Symposium The introduction of the unexpected

On Thursday 30 June 2005 the symposium 'De introductie van het onverwachte' was held in the NAi. It was organized by SKOR in cooperation with the NAi and the Ruimtelijk Plan Bureau.
SKOR's goal was to include art in built up environments and involve it in environmental planning. For the past few years, experimental cooperative projects have been established including residents, town planners, designers and clients involved in environmental planning. Through the contributions of artists, new and unexpected processes that were not immediately focused on an end result, were instigated.
Based on three projects, the symposium presented this new form of cooperation with regard to environmental planning. Participating artists and experts spoke at the symposium.

Questions were raised based on three concrete projects (the details of which can be found below) such as: What can visual art contribute to the often complex processes of environmental planning? What implications does this have for the client and for the user? What is the artist’s position in this construction? How do other disciplines view this construction? And, lastly, what have been the results of this construction so far?

The symposium was part of the Nai’s Architecture Biennale and was accessible to all. The film, De uitbreiding van Polder Mastenbroek (The Expansion of the Mastenbroek Polder) by Sjaak Langenberg and Theo van den Aker was screened as an introduction to the symposium.

The symposium was an initiative of SKOR in collaboration with the Ruimtelijk Planbureau (environmental planning bureau) and the NAi (www.nai.nl).
The launch of the publication Kunst en ruimtelijke (ont)ordening (“Art in environmental planning processes???). years of SKOR’s art projects. Part 1, published by SKOR was announced at the symposium.

De Krabbeplas is a recreational area located in the district of Vlaanderen. It forms part of the Recreatieschap Midden Delfland and was constructed in the 1970’s according to a now obsolete concept. SKOR was approached to, with the implementation of visual art, research the present-day significance of recreational areas and how they function in this day and age. The results of the investigation could produce a model on which to determine the programme and design of today’s recreational areas. At first artists, writers and designers were asked to take a walk through the area and illustrate their impressions of it. The findings of these so-called ‘philosophical expeditions’ formed the starting point of a workshop in which three teams developed their proposals for the future planning of the area. The teams included urban development researchers, landscape architects, town planners and visual artists. The proposal that focused on stimulating new occupational strategies was chosen as the most potentially successful. This proposal suggested the granting of plots of land to individuals or organizations that would utilize the land in culturally diverse ways. In order to ensure the workability of the project, Esther Didden made a plan in which she established the rules. The project will be executed in the coming months.

Client: District of Vlaardingen with the support of Recreatieschap Midden-Delfland
Artists, writers and designers: Mohammed Benzakour, Paul Combrink, Esther Didden, Yvonne Dröge Wendel, Joost van Hezewijk, Rik Herngreen, John Jansen van Galen, Cor Geluk, Govert Grosfeld, Jan Dirk Hoekstra, Toine Horvers, Piet de Jonge, Suchan Kinoshiota, John Lonsdale and Maarten van Wesemael

Click here for more information about this project.

Uitbreiding Polder Mastenbroek (Expansion Mastenbroek Polder)

The Mastenbroek polder is one of the oldest polders in the Netherlands and was designated a “Belvedère area??? in 2001. The Mastenbroek polder is surrounded by the cities of Zwolle, Kampen, Hasselt and Genemuiden. As a result of increasing urban expansion, new access roads and the building of greenhouses, this characteristically empty polder landscape is now being threatened. In the film that Sjaak Langenberg and Theo van den Aker made the roles are reversed and, instead of urban expansion, the actual polder expands in order to accommodate farming companies. In the film the farmers unite and form the Mastenbroek Coop, the area’s independent project developer. The Mastenbroek Coop thus represents a farmer’s organization that deals in building quotas under the motto “Building for emptiness??? Every farmer contributes one hectare of land and his housing quota, made up of three houses. With the latter they can run a profitable mixed industry while, simultaneously, maintaining ‘the empty space’. The possibilities of actually establishing a similar coop are currently being investigated. The farmers themselves are enthusiastic.

Client: Province of Overijssel.
Artists: Sjaak Langenberg and Theo van den Aker
This project is part of a larger polder plan and was established through the collaboration of the KCO, SKOR, Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur (stimulation fund for architecture), Vereniging Polderbelangen Mastenbroek (association of polder lobbyists), the districts of Zwolle and Zwartewaterland

Click here for more information about this project.

De Nieuwe Marke

There are a variety of land development plans for the Regge basin, which is located in Mid-Overijssel. Each aims to, once again, make the area ecologically and aesthetically appealing. Due to the shrinking agricultural sector and need for improved and more natural draining methods, a reorganization of the region is desirable. Within their planning the team researched possibilities of handing over the responsibilities for the region, formerly held by the government, to the owners and managers of the land. As a result of the complexity of the assignment, a team of artists and landscape architects was formed. One of the most salient plans is their proposal to combine the project’s organization with the land development plan. With the existing town planning methods, such as zoning plans and land development plans, the new possibilities of the landscape cannot be fully exploited. Consequently the team proposed the establishment of De Nieuwe Marke, an organization concerned with private law. The members hereof commit themselves to fulfil certain tasks and to strive for the ‘landscape qualities’ that are determined by the landscape plan.

Client: Dienst Landelijk Gebied (Overijssel’s land development services)
The project was realized through the cooperation of the Province of Overijssel, the District of Rijssen, Het Oversticht, KCO, the Water Board Districts Regge and Dinkel, SKOR and the Dutch Forestry Commission.
Artists and designers: Jeroen van Westen, Peter de Ruyter, Hylke Floris and Jan Winsemius

Click here for more information about this project.