Playing Cool Zuid
neighbourhood LARP
12 october
14:00 - 16:00
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
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.