Creatieve werkruimte en sociaal-maatschappelijke plekken staan onder enorme druk. Ateliers verdwijnen, buurthuizen sluiten, en betaalbare ruimte voor makers en gemeenschapsinitiatieven wordt steeds schaarser. Met de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen op 18 maart in aantocht is dit dé moment om de koers voor de komende vier jaar te bepalen

Beide ruimtes staan steeds verder onder druk. De vraag die we deze avond centraal stellen is:

hoe zorgen we voor structurele verankering van deze plekken in gebiedsontwikkeling?

Een vraag die raakt aan leefbaarheid, betaalbaarheid en de veerkracht van de stad.



Tijd: 19:30–22:00 uur (zaal open vanaf 19:00 uur)

Locatie: De Hillevliet, Hillevliet 90, 3074 KD Rotterdam

De Hillevliet 90, Rotterdam (this debate will be held in Dutch) 

Creatieve werkruimte en sociaal-maatschappelijke plekken staan onder enorme druk. Ateliers verdwijnen, buurthuizen sluiten, en betaalbare ruimte voor makers en gemeenschapsinitiatieven wordt steeds schaarser. Met de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen op 18 maart in aantocht is dit het moment om de koers voor de komende vier jaar te bepalen.

Het debat bestaat uit drie thematische rondes. Elke ronde start met een inleiding vanuit de praktijk – door makers, bewoners, culturele instellingen of andere partners – gevolgd door een stelling waarover de politieke partijen in debat gaan. Zo brengen we de urgentie uit het veld direct in gesprek met politieke visies en keuzes.



Deelnemende partijen (voorlopig bevestigd):

We streven naar een pluriform en inhoudelijk sterk debat, en hopen nog meer partijen te verwelkomen.

Dit debat is voor iedereen die Rotterdam een stad wil houden waar creativiteit en ontmoeting ruimte krijgen: makers, bewoners, culturele professionals, ontwikkelaars, woningcorporaties, ondernemers en maatschappelijke organisaties. Kom luisteren, stel vragen, en laat je stem horen.




Georganiseerd door: Coalitie Creatieve Ruimte Rotterdam (CCRR)

Een samenwerkingsvorm op initiatief van GRAW, waar inmiddels veel partijen bij zijn aangehaakt: ontwikkelaars en bouwers (Dura Vermeer, Heijmans, VORM, HD Groep, PlaceBASED), engage Rotterdam en de gemeente Rotterdam (vanuit Stadsontwikkeling, Cultuur en Maatschappelijke Ontwikkeling) en makers en culturele ondernemers die actief betrokken zijn (geweest) bij gebiedsontwikkeling. Met als doel en ambitie: creatieve (werk)ruimte structureel verankeren in gebiedsontwikkeling. 

creatieve en maatschappelijke ruimte

GRAW Verkiezingsdebat

By MAE Heritage

The women behind MAE Heritage will provide all the necessary tools. After a short introduction with tips and tricks for creating an audio tour or “PodWalk”, we will set off with recording equipment in Cool Zuid. We’ll practise asking questions, conducting open conversations and formulating our own vision on the central question: what things are going on in the neighbourhood? Next, we will record short podcasts, giving voice to things that have caught our attention, stories and perspectives from the neighbourhood. After discussing insights and looking for connections together, we will create a collective audio portrait of the neighbourhood, in which personal observations are woven into a larger story. 

WORM Central Station, Boomgaardsstraat 71, Rotterdam

Which voices live in Cool Zuid? This workshop invites you to dive into the neighbourhood and collect its stories. We’ll explore the power of podcasting on location and make the voices of the neighbourhood heard. 

How can we find new ways of working together towards a better future? During engage 2025, we will explore this question through a series of workshops. As the Creative Research Crew, we will look for alternative perspectives on Cool Zuid from various creative angles. We will test ways in which local residents, creators and doers can work together more effectively.

Each workshop in this series generates material that we will use in subsequent sessions: from stories and newspapers to neighbourhood maps and posters. In this way, we’ll be building a collective research project step by step, with room for experimentation, imagination and discussion. 

Whether you are a neighbourhood resident or not, whether you join for one session or take part in the entire series—everyone's perspective and contributions are welcome. Together, we will create a multifaceted picture of the neighbourhood and of the ways in which we can continue to work together in the future.


About

MAE Heritage is formed by Milou Derksen, Emma Egberts and Ashley Laflin, three heritage enthusiasts driven by curiosity and care. Together they explore storytelling as a way to make heritage feel alive, relevant and connected to people’s lives. From creative strategies to public programmes, they craft spaces where stories can unfold and new meanings emerge.

by making a New Podcast

Gather the Stories of Cool Zuid

What deserves attention in Cool Zuid? What’s important, newsworthy, urgent or terribly normal? In this workshop, we will work towards creating an alternative neighbourhood newspaper, made up of contributions from participants. We will go out into the neighbourhood and collect good (or boring) stories, (absurd) images, (meaningless) advertisements, (non-)rhyming poetry and (legendary) photos. Mul-thee-fuhngk-shuh-nl (Jorien Ketelaar and Floor van Meeuwen) will introduce us to various collective publication methods, such as zine-making, to create a polyphonic newspaper together.

The newspaper will be printed that same weekend and distributed in the neighbourhood on Saturday 11 October. In this way, the workshop itself becomes part of the local news and we publish our collective voice in public space.

Put pen to paper and contribute to our neighbourhood newspaper!

Are you a resident of the Witte de Withkwartier? Sign up for this workshop for free at hello@engagerotterdam.nl

WORM Precious (Ubik), Boomgaardsstraat 71, Rotterdam

by Floor van Meeuwen en Jorien Ketelaar (Mul-thee-fuhngk-shuh-nl)

What deserves attention in Cool Zuid? What’s important, newsworthy, urgent or terribly normal? In this workshop, we will work towards creating an alternative neighbourhood newspaper, made up of contributions from participants. 

Each workshop in this series generates material that we will use in subsequent sessions: from stories and newspapers to neighbourhood maps and posters. In this way, we’ll be building a collective research project step by step, with room for experimentation, imagination and discussion. 

Whether you are a neighbourhood resident or not, whether you join for one session or take part in the entire series—everyone's perspective and contributions are welcome. Together, we will create a multifaceted picture of the neighbourhood and of the ways in which we can continue to work together in the future.

About 

Mul-thee-fuhngk-shuh-nl is a collective that creates dynamic installations with a crossover between workshops, public space installations, and happenings through interactions with others. Their projects share a common focus on engaging with the environment and fostering exchanges with a diverse audience, generating new imaginaries around the contexts the projects take place in.

hele krant.pdf

about Cool Zuid

Create a Newspaper Together

Sunday 12 October | 11:00 - 16:00 (lunch: 13:00-14:00). Starts at 11:00 sharp; please arrive 15 minutes early.

The monopoly of a few tech corporations over the development of AI tools prevents creatives from reconfiguring them, confining Large Language Models like Gemini and ChatGPT to strictly conversational, generic, and assistive roles.

V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam


The monopoly of a few tech corporations over the development of AI tools prevents creatives from reconfiguring them, confining Large Language Models like Gemini and ChatGPT to strictly conversational, generic, and assistive roles.

Technologies of Solidarity is a three-day programme by V2_Lab for the Unstable Media in collaboration with engage. It invites participants to explore alternatives to dominant digital technologies shaped by corporate interests, asking what technology could look like outside capitalist logics. Through presentations, workshops, and artistic interventions, the event will examine past and present efforts in open-source, ethical AI, and analog forms of connection, while building practical tools and celebrating community-driven approaches to technology. On Saturday evening, V2_ invites you for a special edition Media Art Cafe with curated DJs and an interactive pub quiz for tech solidarity.

Leo Scarin, an artist and coder, provides an overview of the current landscape of AI models developed by big tech, the social, political and environmental implications of these models, and discusses issues of privacy, bias, and corporate interests. Leo shares methods and purposes of small language models in a workshop that combines tutorials and practical exercises.

By the end of the workshop, you will have set up your own locally run language model! No coding experience is required.

Ready to join us? Here's how it works:

Step 1: Get your passe-partout for just €6 - this gives you access to most events during engage 2025, 9 - 12 October. 

Step 2: Register for individual events using the confirmation email you'll receive.

Step 3: Collect your wristband at The Usual, Westblaak 10-14, Rotterdam

by Leo Scarin

Make your own small AI

Why do most cocoa farmers in Ghana never get to taste the chocolate made from their own beans? For over a century, the value of Ghana's cocoa has been diverted up North—where multinational chocolatiers make billions of dollars each year.


Director: Philippe Stalder
Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes 

WORM Central Station, Boomgaardsstraat 71, Rotterdam

Rethink how we consume, challenge historic narratives, and imagine a world where value is shared fairly with Reclaiming Cocoa. From global profits to colonial roots, this documentary traces the hidden human cost of chocolate, and showcases Ghana’s growing movement to return the value of its beans. 


Reclaiming Cocoa peels back the layers of this complex industry, revealing deep cracks in its promises of sustainability and traceability: We meet the Nartey's, a family whose children toil on cocoa farms instead of going to school. As chocolate giants boast ethical practices, undercover footage exposes a system rife with exploitation and deception. Tombstones of Swiss missionaries remind us of those who first brought cocoa to Ghana —and built a colonial value chain that endures to this day.

Providing possible solutions, the film portrays local entrepreneurs and start-ups that turn cocoa into alternative products. Reclaiming Cocoa is a call to action—to rethink how we consume, to challenge historic narratives, and to imagine a world where value is shared equitably.

Languages: English, Swiss German (English subtitles)

by Philippe Stalder

Culture Convos: Reclaiming Cocoa

by Barbara Munsel, Wille-Meike Brand (reflawn) and Birgit van Beek

Weaving, knitting, or crocheting is all about making connections. By letting threads pass over, under, and through each other, the individual elements form a unified whole. Just as the world is held together by loose strands, a textile fabric reveals a recognisable image or pattern—more complex and nuanced than it may appear at first glance. 

We work together, learn from and with each other, and create a temporary but meaningful encounter around art and textiles. 

WORM S/ash Gallery, Boomgaardsstraat 69, Rotterdam

A.C. Artclub is the place where art is not just observed, but truly experienced together. It’s all about meeting, creating, discovering, and inspiring. Everyone is welcome—whether you have lots of experience or are simply curious. Together, we explore materials and ideas, share stories, and let ourselves be surprised by what emerges.

A.C. Artclub hosts gatherings where a technique, material, or theme serves as the starting point. Artists share their work and methods, participants explore materials and processes, and through dialogue, space opens up for new insights and perspectives.

During engage, we will be working with textile as our material. Each participant brings something valuable: curiosity, time, knowledge, or experience, creating a mutual exchange in which everyone both gives and receives.

by A.C. Artclub

Weave-Curious

Each pitch event focused a theme: Equality, Inclusivity, Technology, and Ecology. During the pitch events, artists and social entrepreneurs were invited to share their ideas for new ways of collaborating. The jury provided feedback and selected one project to be further developed for the biennial.

After their win, they began working on their project and developing their own practice with the guidance of Nancy Hoffmann. On Friday, October 10, a group of pitch and wildcard winners will present their work in progress.

The Work in Progress presentation highlights how our pitch and wildcard winners have developed their projects and what they have learned so far.

•	15:00 - 15:30 Deniz Kurt presenting The Singing Gate: Sound of Growth (wild card winner Technology)

•	15:30 - 17:30 walk-in consultation with muralist Naomi King (pitch winner Inclusivity) 

•	18:00 - 18:15 Sarah Kaushik presents - Bageecha (pitch winner ecology)

•	18:30 -18:45 Shruthi Venkat presents Woven Streets (pitch winner technology) 

•	19:00 - 19:30 Deniz Kurt presenting The Singing Gate: Sound of Growth (wild card winner Ecology)

•	11:00 - 19:00 Locals for Locals by Bea van Grutten (pitch winner equality)

•	11:00 - 19:00 Woven Streets by Shruthi Venkat (pitch winner technology)

12:00 - 16:00 Eulogy for a Dying City by Bobbi x

pitch winner presentations

Work in Progress

In April 2024, Kristoffer Tjalve and Elliott Cost met at a small bookshop in Athens and talked about creating a phonebook of the internet. One year later, the Internet Phone Book was launched there, with Kristoffer reading messages submitted by more than 700 designers, developers, writers, curators, and educators from its yellow pages. They are not the first to create such a book, but with algorithms and search engines shaping the ways we experience the web today, a low-tech alternative felt more necessary than ever. For this event at V2, Elliott (half of the Internet Phonebook) will share some of the project’s backstory. Copies of the book will be available to flip through, and a dial-a-site computer will let visitors call up websites from its pages.

Presented by: Elliott Cost

For this event at V2, Elliott (half of the Internet Phonebook) will share some of the project’s backstory. Copies of the book will be available to flip through, and a dial-a-site computer will let visitors call up websites from its pages.

Elliott Cost is an artist and organizer working on the poetic web. He tends to the Internet Phone Book, Special Fish, HTML Energy, and various other sites. He is part of Extra Practice, a space for working and learning in the North of Rotterdam.

book presentation by Elliott Cost

The internet phonebook

By Karin Kandt-Reinders

How can craft serve as a shared language? During this session, you will engage in conversation with others over two meals and explore questions such as: What happens when we make something together? What does equality mean in a creative process? We will also consider collaboration: How can designers, curators, makers and neighbourhood initiatives truly find each other? And what’s needed to establish fair and sustainable relationships? 

Come in, pull up a chair and join in this relaxed but dynamic setting. There’s room to listen, be inspired, ask questions and share your own experiences. Don't expect a formal panel or fixed programme, but warm conversations centred on curiosity and encounter. The aim of the session is for you to take home new insights, inspiration and concrete tools to take steps towards meaningful collaboration.

Discover what happens when we really engage in conversation with each other.

Are you a resident of the Witte de Withkwartier? Sign up for this workshop for free at hello@engagerotterdam.nl

WORM S/ash Gallery, Boomgaardsstraat 69, Rotterdam

Come in, pull up a chair and join in this relaxed but dynamic setting. There’s room to listen, be inspired, ask questions and share your own experiences. Don't expect a formal panel or fixed programme, but warm conversations centred on curiosity and encounter.

Whether you are a neighbourhood resident or not, whether you join for one session or take part in the entire series—everyone's perspective and contributions are welcome. Together, we will create a multifaceted picture of the neighbourhood and of the ways in which we can continue to work together in the future.

About

Karin Kandt-Reinders is a social entrepreneur, founder of Fair Fabrics and daily manager of the Bakkerswerkplaats in Rotterdam. Through her work, she builds bridges between designers, makers and communities, and explores how craftsmanship can contribute to inclusive and meaningful collaboration.

by Fair Fabrics

Craft for Connection: table talks

By Sophie Allerding

What happens when we create a different reality together? Experience what happens when we step into a different story. 

In this session, we explore LARP (Live Action Role Play) as a way of creating alternative realities together, using the stories, newspapers, maps and posters from the previous sessions as a starting point.

We start with an introduction to different LARP methods, after which we dive into short role-playing games. In these, we explore alternative scenarios and (power) dynamics that are often invisible or unattainable in everyday life. By stepping into a different role, we experience how our thinking, feeling and acting shifts—and what inspiration that transformation can bring.

Together, we will build a playful space full of imagination, where we can explore alternative perspectives and create stories that help us look at the neighbourhood and its future in a different way. The insights and scenes that emerge will tie in with the previous workshops and form the next step in our joint exploration of possible futures for Cool Zuid.

Switch roles and give the neighbourhood a different future.

Are you a resident of the Witte de Withkwartier? Sign up for this workshop for free at hello@engagerotterdam.nl

Theater Babel, Eendrachtsstraat 79, Rotterdam

What happens when we create a different reality together? Experience what happens when we step into a different story.

How can we find new ways of working together towards a better future? During engage 2025, we will explore this question through a series of workshops. As the Creative Research Crew, we will look for alternative perspectives on Cool Zuid from various creative angles. We will test ways in which local residents, creators and doers can work together more effectively.

Each workshop in this series generates material that we will use in subsequent sessions: from stories and newspapers to neighbourhood maps and posters. In this way, we’ll be building a collective research project step by step, with room for experimentation, imagination and discussion. 

Whether you are a neighbourhood resident or not, whether you join for one session or take part in the entire series—everyone's perspective and contributions are welcome. Together, we will create a multifaceted picture of the neighbourhood and of the ways in which we can continue to work together in the future.

About 

Sophie Allerding (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist focused on storytelling and its role in shaping the world around us. Through world-building and speculative fiction, their practice offers a platform for reimagining and reshaping dominant narratives while envisioning futures for desirable worlds. Using collaborative storytelling, they challenge oppressive structures, including human dominance over nature, gender-based power imbalances, and the hegemony of Western knowledge systems.

neighbourhood LARP

Playing Cool Zuid

HipHopHuis, Boomgaardsstraat 46, 3012 XD Rotterdam

What if the BIPOC queer community were the norm? BLQCK TENT invites you to discover what it feels like to break free from the structures that surround us daily—capitalism, hierarchy, sexism and racism. In this temporary space, you are challenged to explore alternative ways of being. Step into a world where different rules apply. 

Note: BLQCK TENT requires separate registration: 

HipHopHuis, Boomgaardsstraat 46, 3012 XD Rotterdam

What if the BIPOC queer community were the norm? BLQCK TENT invites you to discover what it feels like to break free from the structures that surround us daily—capitalism, hierarchy, sexism and racism. In this temporary space, you are challenged to explore alternative ways of being. Step into a world where different rules apply. 

What if the BIPOC queer community were the norm? BLQCK TENT invites you to discover what it feels like to break free from the structures that surround us daily—capitalism, hierarchy, sexism and racism. In this temporary space, you are challenged to explore alternative ways of being. 

Creator and producer Sarah Jawla has created BLQCK TENT as an exercise in rediscovery. It is a collective journey in which we build, break down and reshape together. A space where queer people of colour take center stage and where a Black Queer aesthetic forms the foundation for new ways expression and of being together. 

The immersive, interactive installation consists of three phases inspired by queer-oriented practice: the encounter, the playground, and aftercare. In these in-between spaces, we practice with different norms and discover what becomes possible when we let go of dominant structures.

Immerse yourself in a world that will make you see things differently. 

Fri 10 October: 14:30 | 17:30 | 19:00⁠
Sat 11 October: 15:30 | 17:00 | 18:30 | 20:00⁠
Sun 12 October: 14:00 | 15:30 | 17:00 | 18:30⁠

BLQCK TENT emerged from BLQCK A Queer Aesthetic—a platform developed by Sarah Jawla with and for the BIPOC queer community. A movement that creates safer social spaces where we dare to re-encounter each other, by conceiving, guiding and creating art projects from queer-minded perspectives. 

Concept & artistic design installation: Sarah Jawla

Mask & costume design: Annelies Michelle Shakison

Realization / construction: Naomi Streefkerk & Folke Janssen

Campaign image: Aisha Bah &  Yassin Ouasri 

With thanks to the many activists, artists from the African diaspora, trans & queer people, writers & the ballroom scene whose voices and archives are part of this work.

by Blqck a queer aesthetic

BLQCK TENT

N.B.: This conversation will (mainly) be held in Dutch


In de creatieve sector heerst een ongemakkelijke waarheid: passie wordt vaak gebruikt als reden voor slechte betaling. ‘Je doet het toch voor de liefde?’ is een zin die elke maker wel kent. Maar wanneer wordt passie een excuus voor uitbuiting? Praat mee, ‘spill your guts’ en kom samen met ons in actie voor fair-pay in de kunsten.

Artiesten Tasha Slagtand en Jermaine Berkhoudt nodigen jullie uit om gezamenlijk tot actie te komen: hoe komen we als community tot fair-pay? Welke stappen zijn hiervoor nodig? 

Wil je bijdragen aan het gesprek? Mail ons via creatives@engagerotterdam.nl om concrete vraagstukken alvast aan te leveren. 

Sprekers tba!

Worm Central Station, Boomgaardsstraat 71, Rotterdam

N.B.: This conversation will (mainly) be held in Dutch

The Price of Passion: “a Town Hall meeting on fair-pay in the arts!”

by Tasha Slagtand & Jermaine Berkhoudt

Culture Convos: The Price of Passion

12 – 2 PM - Doors open
Suitcase Economy by Riet Wijnen
I Breathe, You Breathe by donna Kukama

2 PM - 2.30 PM - Welcome Speeches

Speakers: Gabi Ngcobo, Elijah Rhode, Honey Kraiwee, Riet Wijnen

3 PM - 3.30 PM - Performance

Artist: donna Kukama
Location: Third Floor, in dialogue with the exhibition 35 Years of Minds of Matter

4 PM – 6.30 PM - DJ SET

The new iteration titled Suitcase Economy is an experimental canteen developed by artist Riet Wijnen with collaborators: Linda van Deursen, Waysatta Fernández with Salvador Núñez from Mono Rojo, Jari Nuno / Fat Crayon Creative, Ima-Abasi Okon and Jan Wijnen.

by Riet Wijnen

Suitcase Economy 

Rotterdam-based creative studio We Don't Care invite you to their pop-up, which features work by photographer and filmmaker Sethi Djegane Gueye. See short snippets from his feature-length documentary L’Étoile de la Rue (currently in production at We Don’t Care) and get inspired by the views of everyday life in Senegal in his photographic journey Jamm Rek. Finally, We Don't Care invites other grassroots artists and brands to join them during this pop-up!

9 october | 17:00 - 23:00 (part of Block Party Opening)

12 october | 13:00 - 18:00

Free entrance

WORM S/ash Gallery, Boomgaardsstraat 69, Rotterdam

Rotterdam-based creative studio We Don't Care invite you to their pop-up, which features work by photographer and filmmaker Sethi Djegane Gueye. See short snippets from his feature-length documentary L’Étoile de la Rue (currently in production at We Don’t Care) and get inspired by the views of everyday life in Senegal in his photographic journey Jamm Rek.

In the streets of Dakar, a young basketball player dreams of a future that is bigger than his surroundings. As he navigates his way through the chaotic life of Senegal's capital, his gaze remains fixed on one goal: making it to the NBA. 

Photo exhibition: Jamm Rek

The photo exhibition Jamm Rek (Only Peace) is a photographic journey that captures the beauty in everyday life in Senegal and overturns western clichés with an intimate and authentic image of the homeland of photographer and filmmaker Sethi Djegane Gueye.

About We Don’t Care

We Don't Care is a Rotterdam-based creative studio that sees the entire audiovisual sector as its playing field, from music videos and documentaries to visuals for festivals and exhibitions. For engage 2025, they have put together an exposition, featuring work by photographer and filmmaker Sethi Djegane Gueye.

presents: L'Etoile de la Rue pop-up

Culture Convos: We Don’t Care

Door Denise Harleman, Enissa Louise Ghariani & Enno de Kroon

Welke onzichtbare relaties liggen verborgen in Cool Zuid? Help mee om een collectief beeld te scheppen van de verhoudingen in de wijk.

Samen met systeemtherapeut Enissa Louise Ghariani, theatermaker Denise Harleman en kunstenaar Enno de Kroon verkennen we de methode van de familieopstelling, maar dan toegepast op de wijk. Daarbij laten we ons inspireren door het geheugentheater, een zestiende-eeuws model om de wereld te begrijpen. Welke gevoelens, verhalen en soms zelfs conflicten worden zichtbaar als we ze zo letterlijk op de kaart zetten?

Door middel van gezamenlijke verbeelding zoeken we naar een nieuwe taal om samenwerking en verandering in de wijk voor ons te zien en voelbaar te maken.

Ontdek de verborgen verhalen van de wijk. 

Ben je een bewoner van Cool Zuid? Meld je aan via hello@engagerotterdam.nl

Theater Babel, Eendrachtsstraat 79, Rotterdam

Welke onzichtbare relaties liggen verborgen in Cool Zuid? Help mee om een collectief beeld te scheppen van de verhoudingen in de wijk.

Hoe vinden we nieuwe manieren om samen te werken aan een betere toekomst? Tijdens engage 2025 onderzoeken we deze vraag via een reeks workshops. Als Creative Research Crew gaan we vanuit verschillende creatieve invalshoeken op zoek naar alternatieve perspectieven op Cool Zuid. We testen manieren om als buurtbewoners, makers en doeners beter samen te werken.

Iedere workshop in deze serie genereert materiaal dat doorwerkt in de volgende sessies: van verhalen en kranten, tot wijkkaarten en posters. Zo bouwen we stap voor stap aan een collectief onderzoek, met ruimte voor experiment, verbeelding en gesprek. 

Of je nu wijkbewoner bent of niet, of je één keer meedoet of het hele traject volgt: ieders blik en bijdrage is waardevol. Samen maken we een veelstemmig beeld van de wijk én van de manieren waarop we in de toekomst samen verder kunnen. 

JOIN THE CREW

Over

Karin Kandt-Reinders is sociaal ondernemer, oprichter van Fair Fabrics en dagelijks leider van de Bakkerswerkplaats in Rotterdam. Vanuit haar werk bouwt zij bruggen tussen ontwerpers, makers en gemeenschappen, en onderzoekt ze hoe ambacht kan bijdragen aan inclusieve en betekenisvolle samenwerking. 

Cool Zuid residents only

Geheugentheater

Saturday 11 October 11 | 20:00 - 21:00. Starts at 20:00 sharp, come 15 minutes early.

Are you ready to take back what belongs to the PEOPLE? Because we sure are! Take back technology together with artists Roos Groothuizen and Nastia Cistakova. They will give you the tools (a soldering iron and knowledge) to keep yourself alive in the digitalised world. Join them on a quiz and take home the prize. It doesn’t matter if you’re an expert or a newbie, everyone eventually wins by going home with a bigger brain. This is one journey you will never forget! 

V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam

Are you ready to take back what belongs to the PEOPLE? Because we sure are! Take back technology together with artists Roos Groothuizen and Nastia Cistakova. They will give you the tools (a soldering iron and knowledge) to keep yourself alive in the digitalised world. Join them on a quiz and take home the prize. It doesn’t matter if you’re an expert or a newbie, everyone eventually wins by going home with a bigger brain. This is one journey you will never forget! 

Technologies of Solidarity is a three-day programme by V2_Lab for the Unstable Media in collaboration with engage. It invites participants to explore alternatives to dominant digital technologies shaped by corporate interests, asking what technology could look like outside capitalist logics. Through presentations, workshops, and artistic interventions, the event will examine past and present efforts in open-source, ethical AI, and analog forms of connection, while building practical tools and celebrating community-driven approaches to technology. On Saturday evening, V2_ invites you for a special edition Media Art Cafe with curated DJs and an interactive pub quiz for tech solidarity.

Roos Groothuizen is a media artist focused on digital human rights. Through her practice and the art collective Telemagic, she explores algorithms, information filters, and power structures using interactive game mechanics. Her escape room I want to delete it all about Big Tech was nominated for a Golden Calf in 2021. She co-founded the collective artist space .zip in Rotterdam.

Nastia Cistakova is an illustrator and artist exploring socio-cultural aspects of modern life through drawing, installations, videos, and workshops. Her work examines subjects including economic inequality, capitalism, digital culture, AI, and queer sexuality. Currently supported by the Stimuleringsfonds, she is researching sexual imagery in media and women who create satire.

by Roos Groothuizen & Nastia Cistakova

Taking Back Tech Pub Quiz

Paradijskerk, Nieuwe Binnenweg 25, 3014 GB Rotterdam

How do we counter rising fascism? We organize! 

In their first artistic collaboration, artists Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal gather more than forty art-activists, musicians, political organisations and social movements to collectively perform a 12-hour antifascist musical sermon. 

Together, they transform the Paradijskerk in Rotterdam into an anti-fascist church: a space where the broadest coalition possible assembles in common opposition to rising authoritarianism, genocide, misogyny, systemic racism and the dismantling of critical democratic institutions. 
At engage, we’re committed to making our programmes accessible to everyone.

Due to personal circumstances of our sign language interpreter, we unfortunately won’t be able to provide interpretation for the Anti-Fascist Church (11 October). We sincerely apologise to visitors with hearing impairments.

Everyone is, of course, still very welcome — there is plenty to see, feel and experience — though we understand this may be disappointing for some and sincerely apologise to visitors with hearing impairments. We remain committed to improving accessibility across all engage programmes.

For any questions or suggestions, please contact us at hello@engagerotterdam.nl.


Note: Anti-Fascist Church requires seperate registration:

Paradijskerk, Nieuwe Binnenweg 25, 3014 GB Rotterdam

How do we counter rising fascism? We organize! 

In their first artistic collaboration, artists Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal gather more than forty art-activists, musicians, political organisations and social movements to collectively perform a 12-hour antifascist musical sermon.

Anti-Fascist Church is an engage project by Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal, co-programmed with Shirin Mirachor and Julia Wilhelm.


Music by Khadija El Kharraz Alami (theatre maker, director, actor), Max Frimout (musician), Cheb Runner (producer), Mohamed Abdelkarim (artist, performer, cultural producer), Matthijs van der Wilt (organist, pianist, composer), and Rhythms of Resistance (drumming collective).

Address by Vijay Prashad (Tricontinental). 

Opening by Tofik Dibi (BIJ1), Mustapha Eaisaouiyen (Woonopstand) and Eman Khasawneh (activist, spoken word artist).


Contributions by Aki Negate (The Niteshop), Anarcha (organiser), Bruce Rienstra (pastor, Oud-Katholieke Paradijskerk, Rotterdam), Chihiro Geuzebroek (Stichting Aralez), Clementine-willow (activist, poet, performer), Coni Ledesma (National Democratic Front of the Philippines), Crystal van Kalmthout (ROOD Socialistische Jongeren), Denk neni (artist), Ehab Ghafri (filmmaker), Esme Smithson (MiGreat), Grâce Ndjako (philosopher, author), Havin Güneşer (Academy of Social Science), Iliada Charalambous & Jun Saturay (True Counterpower), Janna (XR Justice Now!), Jerry Afriyie (Nederland Wordt Beter), Joana Cavaco (Erev Rav), Jouke Huijzer (Jacobin NL), Juul Seesing (organiser), Lila Athanasiadou (Cultural Workers Unite), Little Red Kitchen (cooking and mutual aid collective), Loes de Kleijn (Artsen voor Gaza), Lyra Willow (Rotterdam Front for Liberation), Marco Derks (pastor, Oud-Katholieke Parochie H. Johannes de Doper, Gouda), Muna Shirwa (S.P.E.A.K.), Nikita Krouwel (The Black Archives), Rogier van Reekum (sociologist), Saada Ali (Sudanese Refugees Organization), Sahand Mozdbar (ASVA Studentenvakbond), Srishagon Abraham (Colored Qollective), Sterre (STUUR Rotterdam), Stevie Nolten (Utrecht BIJ1), Urok Shirhan (artist), Wendela de Vries (Stop Wapenhandel), and Yasmin Ahmed (Verzet Tegen Oorlog).

How do we counter rising fascism? We organize! In their first artistic collaboration, artists Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal gather more than forty art-activists, musicians, political organisations and social movements to collectively perform a 12-hour antifascist musical sermon. Together, they transform the Paradijskerk in Rotterdam into an anti-fascist church: a space where the broadest coalition possible assembles in common opposition to rising authoritarianism, genocide, misogyny, systemic racism and the dismantling of critical democratic institutions. During the Nazi occupation, people of faith often found themselves side by side with communists in the underground resistance and refugee support system, and many churches operated as hiding places for Jewish people and resistance members.

In van Heeswijk and Staal’s project, the church as a site of unexpected alliances is brought back to life to compose new majorities united in their resistance against neofascist forces, but it also appropriates the (far)right framing of progressives as forming a “leftist church” (linkse kerk): claiming it as a badge of honour.

For the entry and stage of the church, Van Heeswijk and Staal have developed an immersive installation honouring antifascist symbols of the past and proposing new ones for common resistance against (neo)fascism. Here, for twelve hours, organisations from across the political spectrum will collectively contribute to the musical sermon, celebrating and strengthening the links between communal, embodied and spiritual practices of liberation, across social, feminist, LGBTQI+, Black and ecological struggles. An improvisational chorus responds to parts of the sermon in between speeches, turning the twelve hours into a collective political and musical event. The Anti-Fascist Church is open to anyone who stands in opposition to fascism. Together, we’ll celebrate anti-fascist unity across difference.

Curious about the meaning of the flags? Each one represents a branch of the alliance united in the Anti-Fascist Church: the Palestinian freedom movement (Palestinian flag); LGBTQI+ movement (progress pride flag); feminist movement (purple), ecological justice (green) and the socialist movement (red). Get your flag pin at the Paradijskerk and become part of the collective (suggested donation: €5)!

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Project team: Jeanne van Heeswijk and Jonas Staal (artists); Nancy  Hoffmann (curator); Shirin Mirachor (musical programming); Julia Wilhelm (speaker programming); Marieke Holtes and Menno Versluis (producers engage); Leonie Wenting (marketing); Emily Rhodes (copywriter); Nadine  Gouders (producer); Paul Kuipers (architect); Remco van Bladel (designer); Studio Kunstwerk, Michael Klinkenberg and Niklas van Woerden (construction); Ruben Hamelink, with Daniel Szollosi en Max Wassink (photo and video documentation); Ollie Paterson (production support); Paul van Laak (light design); Max Frimout and Cheb Runner (sound design); Tony Netten (sound); Arthur Moret (podiums); Little Red Kitchen (catering); Matthijs van der Wilt (manager Paradijskerk); Afrikaanderwijk  Coöperatie (hosting).

AFC-Programme Booklet_ENG.pdf

by Jeanne van Heeswijk & Jonas Staal

Anti-Fascist Church

How do normative ideas around time and productivity shape the work of cultural institutions?

What if accessibility was the starting point for developing artistic programs?

What would cultural institutions be like if they centered the needs of our bodyminds?

Earlier this year we invited four chronically ill/disabled/neurodivergent cultural workers to reflect with us on these questions within the context of the residency Cripping Cultural Work. Throughout this project each of them has explored research topics of their choice, while we have collectively attempted to move towards more accessible, gentle and slowed paced work practices. 

We kindly ask visitors to wear face masks to keep each other safe - we will have free masks available at the door. 

MaMa, Witte de Withstraat 29 - 31, Rotterdam

Join us for the opening Saturday, October 11 to experience what Ari Ralph, Ashley Nkechi Igwe, flora valeska woudstra and Yoana Buzova have been working on.

The space is designed to be calm and restful. Additionally, during the lower-stimulus hour we ask visitors to keep conversations to a minimum for those who would like to visit with less stimuli.


There will be two moments during which the residents will share a glimpse into their research. 

…And I’ll Be Back to Perform Health for You runs from 11.10 through 16.11 and is free of charge.
 

exhibition, gathering space, open studio, crip playground

And I’ll be back to perform health for you

Using different prompts that trigger your imagination, this workshop takes you on a step-by-step narrative journey. Mixing creative strategies like design thinking and storytelling, Chen encourages you to reach new forms of self-expression and exploration. Discover storytelling through freestyle drawing and let your intuition take you on a surprising journey.

Ready to join us? Here's how it works:

Step 1: Get your passe-partout for just €6 - this gives you access to most events during engage 2025, 9 - 12 October. 

Step 2: Register for individual events using the confirmation email you'll receive.

Step 3: Collect your wristband at The Usual, Westblaak 10-14, Rotterdam

Everyone carries an untold story waiting for the right time to emerge. So what’s yours? Discover it in this creative workshop by artist and designer Yi-Fei Chen. 

De Schotse Kerk (in Dutch), Schiedamse Vest 121, 3012 BA Rotterdam

10 October | 16:00 - 17:00

11 October | 14:00 - 15:00

Worm (in English), Boomgaardsstraat 71, 3012 BN Rotterdam

12 October | 11:00 - 12:00

Yi-Fei Chen is a versatile artist and designer who investigates how objects can empower people by combining psychology, creative thinking and self-expression. She guides participants in drawing their personal story sequence, allowing them to not only express their creativity but explore new perspectives on themselves as well. 

Trigger Your Story is made possible with the support of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.

by Yi-Fei Chen & Birgit van Beek

Workshop: Trigger Your Story

The basketball court at ’t Landje has been given a temporary makeover! Street artists Sicovecas and Danny Rumbl have transformed the court with a fresh, vibrant design, in collaboration with ALL CAPS and engage. 

Sicovecas (Indonesia) is known for abstract, organic murals that respond to their surroundings—from Jakarta to Rotterdam.

Danny Rumbl (Rotterdam) adds his signature figurative style: cheerful, cartoon-like characters in bold colors.

Along with the makeover, we’re hosting a basketball clinic together with Concrete Lions on Saturday 11 October from 13:00 - 17:00. All ages and skill levels welcome. Join in or come cheer from the sidelines. 

Free fries provided all afternoon by artist Bo van der Eng with her mobile Vetbike. 

Come watch, play, eat, and feel the new energy at ’t Landje!

Krajiceck Foundation, Schiedamsesingel, Rotterdam

Together with Concrete Lions we’re hosting a basketball clinic on Saturday 11 October 2025, 13:00–17:00. All ages and skill levels welcome — join in or come cheer from the sidelines.

Sicovecas (Indonesia) is known for abstract, organic murals that respond to their surroundings — from Jakarta to Rotterdam.

Danny Rumbl (Rotterdam) adds his signature figurative flair: cheerful, cartoon-like characters in bold colors.

by ALL CAPS x Concrete lions

Cool Playground

By Alina Turdean / Eat Your Feelings

Eat Your Feelings invites you to a playful brunch experience in which themes such as money, health, climate, equality, safety and technology are literally put on the table. By playing with food, we explore how cooperation can arise around everyday challenges.

We set a table decorated like a food co-op shop. Access to certain ingredients for your brunch is only possible through your own currency, negotiation or exchange. Participants must work together to ensure that everything is distributed fairly, following steps that help to create order in the carefully directed culinary chaos.

We turn this brunch into an adventure full of play, conversation and collaboration, celebrating collectivity and discovering what can happen when we don't avoid chaos, but embrace it together.

Come brunch, play with your food and discover an alternative food economy.

Are you a resident of the Witte de Withkwartier? Sign up for this workshop for free at hello@engagerotterdam.nl

WORM S/ash Gallery, Boomgaardsstraat 69, Rotterdam

How can we shape an alternative food economy? 

Eat Your Feelings invites you to a playful brunch experience in which themes such as money, health, climate, equality, safety and technology are literally put on the table. By playing with food, we explore how cooperation can arise around everyday challenges.

How can we find new ways of working together towards a better future? During engage 2025, we will explore this question through a series of workshops. As the Creative Research Crew, we will look for alternative perspectives on Cool Zuid from various creative angles. We will test ways in which local residents, creators and doers can work together more effectively.

Each workshop in this series generates material that we will use in subsequent sessions: from stories and newspapers to neighbourhood maps and posters. In this way, we’ll be building a collective research project step by step, with room for experimentation, imagination and discussion. 

Whether you are a neighbourhood resident or not, whether you join for one session or take part in the entire series—everyone's perspective and contributions are welcome. Together, we will create a multifaceted picture of the neighbourhood and of the ways in which we can continue to work together in the future.

About 

Alina Turdean is a cultural worker, designer and researcher exploring the intersections of food and community. She uses food as both medium and message, creating spaces for dialogue and connection across boundaries. Drawing on culinary history and experimentation, her work invites people to engage with food beyond its domestic context.

interactive brunch

Chaos Supermarket

V2_Lab for the Unstable Media X engage

Technologies of Solidarity is a three-day programme by V2_Lab for the Unstable Media in collaboration with engage. It invites participants to explore alternatives to dominant digital technologies shaped by corporate interests, asking what technology could look like outside capitalist logics. Through presentations, workshops, and artistic interventions, the event will examine past and present efforts in open-source, ethical AI, and analog forms of connection, while building practical tools and celebrating community-driven approaches to technology. On Saturday evening, V2_ invites you for a special edition Media Art Cafe with curated DJs and an interactive pub quiz for tech solidarity.

Ready to join us? Here's how it works:

Step 1: Get your passe-partout for just €6 - this gives you access to most events during engage 2025, 9 - 12 October. 

Step 2: Register for individual events using the confirmation email you'll receive.

Step 3: Collect your wristband at The Usual, Westblaak 10-14, Rotterdam

V2 Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam

Technologies of Solidarity is a three-day programme by V2_Lab for the Unstable Media in collaboration with engage. It invites participants to explore alternatives to dominant digital technologies shaped by corporate interests, asking what technology could look like outside capitalist logics.  

Fri 10 October 

11:00 – 16:00 | Workshop Software in the Public Interest

16:00 – 18:00 | Book presentation: Platform Brutalism by Geert Lovink

Sat 11 October  

11:00 – 16:00 | Workshop Vape life into your sextoys!

16:30 – 19:00 | The internet phonebook presentation

20:00 – 21:00 | Taking Back Tech Pub Quiz

Sun 12 October (Closing) 

11:00 – 16:00  | Make your own small AI 

V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media is an interdisciplinary center for art and media technology based in Rotterdam. They present, produce, archive, and publish research at the intersection of art, technology, and society. They believe that art and design are key to understanding how technology shapes our world. At V2_, they create spaces where the social impact of technology can be explored through critical dialogue, artistic reflection, and hands-on research.

Image by Celestine Kronenberger

by V2_Lab of the unstable media

Technologies of Solidarity

In Rotterdam, 47% of women face street harassment, yet the city's response has been to expand surveillance infrastructure instead of proactive actions. Woven Streets challenges the dominant narrative that safety comes through monitoring and control. This participatory design project asks: What does safety look like when it's rooted in care, autonomy, and community?

V2 Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam

What could safety look like if it weren't built on surveillance? Woven Streets explored futures of safety and technology through speculative objects that reclaim presence, care, and solidarity.

Woven Streets explores how communities can reclaim their sense of safety through anti-surveillance wearable technology and collective imagination. Through hands-on workshops, participants shared their lived experiences of navigating Rotterdam's public spaces and collectively reimagined what protection could mean. The project centres on co-creating speculative wearable technologies that resist surveillance while fostering networks of care. Participants built low-tech, rough, but provocative prototypes that spark conversation about agency, privacy, and community-centered safety.

Through guided prompts and mapping exercises, the session moved from conversation to creating. Participants documented their experiences while envisioning futures where technology serves people, not power structures. These objects are poetic, playful, and radical- each one a tangible future that challenges how we think about safety. Beyond making, the project included self-defense workshops, offering participants physical tools for confidence and empowerment. By combining imagination, crafting, and self-defense, Woven Streets provided a holistic approach to safety and technology. 

Woven Streets ultimately invites Rotterdam residents to become active agents in designing their own safety rather than depending on systems that watch from above. Each prototype is a small step toward reclaiming safety on our own terms.

by Shruthi Venkat

Woven Streets

On Friday October 10th, the winners of our Open Call 2025 present their projects at Ubik (WORM), located at the Boomgaardstraat 69 Rotterdam.

Come listen, question and discover how art and making processes contribute to real change. Continuous program with presentations, talks and space for connection.

Work Ubik Boomgaardsstraat 69, 3012 XA Rotterdam

Making a mural together breaks down barriers between people. Naomi King brings neighbourhood residents together around enormous murals where everyone can participate - from children to elderly, from CEOs to homeless individuals.

Making a mural together breaks down barriers between people. Naomi King brings neighbourhood residents together around enormous murals where everyone can participate - from children to elderly, from CEOs to homeless individuals.

Her approach is simple but powerful: the neighbourhood chooses a design together, then everyone can paint. Her 600m² mural "Mi Lobi Zuid" at Rotterdam Zuidplein involved 400 people. Some just wrote their name, others painted for days. The result: not just a prettier building, but a safer, prouder neighborhood where people know each other.

For engage, King develops a new community mural in Rotterdam. From sketch to unveiling, residents determine what's created. Not art on a wall but artwork by the neighbourhood. Through making this work together, differences in background, age or language disappear - everyone is equal with a brush in hand.

Naomi King is an illustrator, muralist and community artist. As a child of two cultures - Surinamese and Dutch - she knows what connecting worlds means. With influences from art nouveau to 80's cartoons, she creates colourful works that break through grey reality. "Art is for everyone," says King. "If I can make people happy with my creations, that's a win for all."

by Naomi King

Community Mural

During engage 2025, Good Praxis invites you to join a three-day journey that culminates in a collective club night. Good Praxis is a collective practice rooted in climate action and club culture, creating spaces for solidarity and shared imagination. 

After editions in Helsinki, Malmö, and Barcelona, we now visit Rotterdam. Over the course of the workshop we come together to share our wants, haves, and needs—discovering what matters to each of us and how we can support one another. Through open conversation, playful exercises, and time spent together, we form affinity groups and practice solidarity. It all leads up to a shared celebration: a club night that turns our individual wishes into collective joy and freedom.

During engage 2025, Good Praxis invites you to join a three-day journey that culminates in a collective club night. Good Praxis is a collective practice rooted in climate action and club culture, creating spaces for solidarity and shared imagination. 

A Collective Club Night

GOOD PRAXIS

moezeum, Vijverhofstraat 29, 3032 SB Rotterdam

In a city 80% below sea level, the climate crisis is no longer a distant threat. How can we creatively deal with the tension between economic interests and ecological necessity?

Jury members: Saya (TRAIDE) & Barbara Vos (creative strategist), chaired by Sedat Bugdaci. Secretary: Gijs de Boer.

ecology

By Hannah Kansy & Emma Verhoeven

What future scenarios can we imagine? This workshop challenges you to speculate about the future of Cool Zuid and invites you to launch big questions into public space.

In this session, we move the insights, stories and conflicts from the previous workshops into the near and distant future. These scenarios form the starting point for a series of posters, advertisements and pamphlets that we might find in Witte de Withstraat in 2030, 2060 or 2090. 

Along with the crew, you will work on devising, designing and producing the posters. Designer Hannah Kansy will teach us quick & dirty graphic print-making techniques that we can use on the spot. Then we will take to the streets for a joint wild posting campaign! In this way, we will entice passers-by to question future scenarios and invite them to reflect and discuss in which direction the neighbourhood could (or should) go. 

The posters from this workshop will form the starting point for the LARP on Sunday. 

Will you join us on this wild postering adventure?

Are you a resident of the Witte de Withkwartier? Sign up for this workshop for free at hello@engagerotterdam.nl

WORM Precious (Ubik), Boomgaardsstraat 71, Rotterdam

What future scenarios can we imagine? This workshop challenges you to speculate about the future of Cool Zuid and invites you to launch big questions into public space.

About 

Hannah Kansy (she/her) works as a Graphic Designer, Artistic Researcher and Printmaker. With a multidisciplinary approach, her work ranges from the conception, design and production of books, magazines, posters, visual identities, digital experiences, and exhibition spaces. She is part of the interdisciplinary design collective whywhynot and currently based in Rotterdam, NL.


Emma Verhoeven is a designer and educator based in Rotterdam. Her work focuses on creating collective space and time for playful (self)reflection and experimental learning. Informed by her own creative practice, she designs and facilitates workshops at the intersection of art, research and personal development.

Design a new future on a poster

Speculative Wild-Posting

By Emma Verhoeven

How do we map Cool Zuid? Wander through Cool Zuid and lay out your observations. In this workshop, we combine methods from dérive theory and subjective cartography to experience the neighbourhood from all kinds of perspectives and capture it in unique maps.  

We’re done with the classic top-down satellite image—let’s get started with a short inspiration session in which we invite you to get acquainted with alternative techniques for making maps. Then we’ll set off with sketchbooks and get to drawing! 

As we draw, we collect impressions, details and associations from our surroundings, and you’re invited to give shape to your own way of seeing things. We share and test each other's methods, and work towards a colourful collection of subjective street maps, which together will form a collective neighbourhood map. This creates a multicoloured image of Cool Zuid, in which personal observations, intuitions and patterns come together. 

The results of this workshop will be featured in the Alternative Neighbourhood Newspaper (Alternatieve Wijkkrant), which will be available in the neighbourhood and online from Saturday 11 October.

Ready to show the neighbourhood through your eyes?

Are you a resident of the Witte de Withkwartier? Sign up for this workshop for free at hello@engagerotterdam.nl

WORM Central Station, Boomgaardsstraat 71, Rotterdam

How do we map Cool Zuid? Wander through Cool Zuid and lay out your observations. In this workshop, we combine methods from dérive theory and subjective cartography to experience the neighbourhood from all kinds of perspectives and capture it in unique maps.  

About

Emma Verhoeven is a designer and educator based in Rotterdam. Her work focuses on creating collective space and time for playful (self)reflection and experimental learning. Informed by her own creative practice, she designs and facilitates workshops at the intersection of art, research and personal development.

create a map of the neighborhood together

Subjective Street Mapping

Eendrachtstraat 10 (V2_Lab) & WORM, Ubik, Boomgaardstraat
Thursday 9 October | 17:00 - 23:00

We're taking over Eendrachtstraat with a block party to kick off engage 2025! Explore the street from V2 to WORM and back, with food, drinks, music, poetry, and the official opening ceremony.

At 18:00, Rotterdam's City Poet Benzokarim presents a poem written specially for engage. Then we officially open engage with the unofficial mayor of Witte de Withkwartier Ed de Meijer and councillor Said Kasmi. 

And it wouldn’t be a block party without music! R3LN4CHT and Habibi's World will provide beats, and Good Praxis will present a Collective Club Night.

Eendrachtstraat 10 (V2_Lab) & WORM, Ubik, Boomgaardstraat

We're taking over Eendrachtstraat with a block party to kick off engage 2025! Explore the street from V2 to WORM and back, with food, drinks, music, poetry, and the official opening ceremony.

Program overview

17:00 - 18:00 | Arrival & Welcome Drinks
V2_Lab for the Unstable Media

18:00 - 18:05 | Welcome Address
Nancy Hoffmann, Director Creative Action Now

18:05 - 18:10 | Poetry
Benzokarim, City Poet of Rotterdam

18:10 - 18:20 | Official Opening
Said Kasmi, Councillor for Education, Culture & Events

18:20 - 18:45 | Panel Discussion: "The Neighbourhood as Laboratory"
With Said Kasmi, Una Henry, Fabian Saavedra-Lara and Charlien Adriaenssens
Moderator: Samantha Coleridge

18:45 - 23:00 | BLOCK PARTY

Music & Performance

Juha van 't Zelfde with students from WdKA & Albeda – experimental performance (Ubik)

Expo

"We Don't Care" – Sethi Djegane Gueye & Friends (Slash Gallery)

BLQCK TENT – Sarah Jawla & crew, Hiphophuis

official opening

Block Party

Platform Brutality is a scathing diagnosis of our digital condition in the aftermath of Covid, grappling with a world overwhelmed by platform decay, social media addiction, and the psychic toll of techno-capitalism. The central thesis is that social media no longer just distracts—it wounds. And yet, we stay. Lovink labels the dominant emotional landscape as copium—a metaphorical opiate for digital despair, numbing users trapped in endless loops of scrolling, doom, and distraction. 

The book covers topics such as the paradox of loneliness on social media, mythologies of smartphones, the role of dreaming in this digital age, and techno-feudalism as the political economy of Big Tech oligarchy. The internet’s current state is one of permacrisis: a condition of stagnation, rage, and numbness, where algorithmic manipulation, AI slop, “enshittification”, and techno-feudalism define the everyday. As the eighth volume in Lovink’s critical internet cultures series, the book moves from critique to exit strategies: first diagnosis, then treatment. Platform Brutality is a monument to digital fatigue, and a final urgent appeal for collective withdrawal.

Geert Lovink will present his newly released book along with the years-long research that led up to its publication, and a panel of theorists and philosophers will help to deepen the discourse.