Portraits of Mingling: Henrick de Keyserplein
A collaboration between students of SIS (Studio for Immediate Spaces) and the Gemeente Amsterdam
Portraits of Mingling is the name of the artistic research and publication made by students Paulina Martínez Marín, Ilya Lindhout and Mayomi Basnayaka on their project around the Henrick de Keijserplein in Amsterdam. The SIS ('Studio for Immediate Spaces') Master’s programme at the Sandberg Institute and the Municipality of Amsterdam collaborated in the development of this plan area in Amsterdam Stadsdeel Zuid.
The aim of the Municipality of Amsterdam is to reinforce the social structure of the Henrick de Keyserplein involving the neighbourhood and all the professional parties that play a role in or around the square. The transdisciplinary artistic collective with backgrounds in embodied knowledge, heritage studies and community psychology used performative, archival and participatory methods to create site-specific portraits. During the months of October 2022 to March 2023, the collective carried out site-specific and artistic research at the square, in strong collaboration with its users.
Collective experiences and information were collected and produced through different test interventions through the 'spiral method'. Just as in a spiral each coil leads top another, each intervention we led informed the next. The method spirals through visiting, interacting, collecting and reflecting. The following five advice were formulated:
- Droomtent: encourage temporary installations
- Those who mingle around: activate Henrick de Keyserpleins archive
- Letters from your window: enhance the existing
- Night watch: keep the unstructured alive
- Chit-chats: continue the chat as an informative tool
The collective presented their advice on March 16th. Take a look at their publication here.
