User:Lor.ensō/projectproposal

PROJECT PROPOSAL 2025

What do you want to make?

Contextures is a research in developing counter-mapping and counter-planning through testing and visualizing the thresholds of online and offline surfaces and interfaces. In the most simple example. It is about getting from A to B, based on personal stories. In this matter, I am using multiple outcomes as form experimentations to find and or combine i.e. annotations(recording/written), drawings, Unity3D, (web) interfaces, edited physical maps etc. in combination with my annotations and putting the bizarre situations that me and my close family need to go through, combating different instances and red tape in the smoothening city of Rotterdam.

To exemplify my project, one of my works in progress revolves around how to visualize a waiting space. Having in mind the actual waiting time, space and 'space' as in the state of mind that occurs when becoming dependent of an instance. A visual mix of where Kafka meets Escher. Another experimentation I'm (counter)planning, puts the procedures of applying for something at the Gemeente in the mould of online planners/maps. Trying to figure out blackbox-code behind the i.e. Google Maps, 9292ov and trying to put the procedural steps of getting something done in the text areas of a planned route. At the same time looking at what is used to localize problems or data in Rotterdam with https://www.3drotterdam.nl/ https://www.buitenbeter.nl/ https://meldr.rotterdam.nl/. Experimentation with physical maps and software like Leaflet.js in combination of the previously mentioned experiments will then bloom into the all encompassing counter-planner that will narrate the stories time critiquing Rotterdam's Make It Happen.

My project Contextures will address multiple forms of accessibility in Rotterdam.

The outcomes will include experiments with the planners and plannings of things to get around and getting things done or 'making it happen'. I include those absurd bureaucratic waiting spaces and times into an counter-planner / alternative route maker. Instead of a simple line on a map, it becomes like 'a piece of yarn/fabric' with knots and repetition that is just completely gets stuck of the complexities. Both aspects of the project /counterplanner/ and thesis will address how obstacles are encountered in the city of Rotterdam. One of the purposes is to showcase physical and mental thresholds and that A to B is not only having things done/getting somewhere but also solutionism.

Contextures arises from my frustrations with the hollow renders and and representations through which Rotterdam is presented. Traveling around the city of Rotterdam with my brother, who is in a wheelchair, has made me even more aware of the architectural, cultural and bureaucratic limits that define our movements.

The project will be based on the complexities going from a to b. which will be incorporated into the counter planner getting things done/around.

It will revolve around the ideas protocol/structure/process/procedures and annotated visuals and the protocols/structures/processes/procedures that do not just require a ramp to 'fix'.] By this ==I develop an infrastructure for counter-mapping in the sense i.e. a counter planner. The thesis will take the form of a series of annotated drawing

Why do you want to make it?

I am having mixed feelings about Rotterdam, the city I was born and raised in. A city that has been suffering the second city syndrome for a while and is on the list of poorest, least healthy. Having some sort of bad reputation based on multiple elements. Then resulting into trying to develop a better city, getting on the list of cool cities. Developing gentrification and seeming to be more (inter)nationally appealing cities.

Rotterdam, Make It Happen** is a campaign that focuses on developing the city but rather than focusing on the problems that the city has from the national housing crisis, poverty rates, social care conditions, narco-capital problems. My specific focus is on accessibility and this the red thread that goes through multiple dimensiom

This project is my experiment to develop an infrastructure based on constructive city criticism but also reflection. In this, the human element in the precalculated environment is the centerpiece. The human touch as reminder of the (in)humane complications.  I'm in confusion by the idea of vision / images of the city through virtual representation. Mostly, because I feel that is an image that lacks multiple layers of complex contexts.

How do you plan to make it?

I plan to experiment with multiple media. From annotating map, to drawing comic style interventions, to online maps and adding the points from A to B

See it as a third evolution in the series of PUBLIC TRANSPORT where I show a 63 step travel from a to b and back again, combined with POINXS.

drawing, editing, annotations, public**

Using drawings and annotations as vessels for human touch i.e. add incalculated dimensions(human contexts) into precalculated environments.

Perhaps to develop a series of critical counter-infrastructures as a visual "essay" per situation/context.

Collect my/mother';s/brother's direct procedures to i.e. apply for trevvel in a visual matter to showcase, also to investigate the User Interfaces and Experiences and make my annotations via experimentation with different media. Using the situations/stories of close relatives/friends and applying the drastic context to multiple surfaces via experimentation with different media.

Thesis

In my thesis proposal I play with the 6 sides of the cube through annotated drawings and using the chapters.

The three chapters of Contextures group the above into pairs:

• ^{Socially - Accessibly /} (un)Familiar barriers, social thresholds and unmeant ignorance I refuse to allow myself to fall in a pit of despair. This is a healthy reflection on the topics; reacting honestly to a complex of issues in search for (alternative) mechanism.
• ^{Virtually - Architecturally} / Innovation and Virtual Tools as development or demolition of reality
• ^{Bureaucratically - Culturally} / Zoning: friction between counter culture and bureaucracy, false iconism vs community

This cube will then transform into the contexts, problems, barriers It will all revolve around my/our experiences in Rotterdam. To show that A to B is not a simple process in to getting around and getting things done.

Contextures is a zoom in zoom out, counter map/planner that focuses on different cases. Generating the whole pictures buy collecting multiple situations. Either closed or pending procesdures. It is a related to pavements, to movements in the city, to the harsh realities and opposing of the renders, tiles cover up / protect. The tiles relate to the situations of the stories. Always requiring the practice. As example: To get the 'social taxi' you need to request it, in order to request it, you need to apply for it and hope that you get access to this particular service, this procedure takes 6-8 weeks, meaning that you stay -in position- for a long time. Before a next 'turn', you need to wait and maintain mentally stable to continue. And even when you 'get' to the 'final' tile, it does not mean that the acquired service is functioning properly. __________________________________________________________________________________________-------------------------Another example: My brother wants to visit my mother. Since he is in a wheelchair, the quick fix is a collection of stable large and smaller ramps, then there is still the threshold of entering the small pavement, to get on the ramp. So for that ramp, you need to be sure that there is not a car in front on the house. So that means, to claim the parking spot in front of the house and also changing the brick/tile from the pavement to the street into this ramp-like tile. In order to do this, you write a letter / mail to the municipality. The WMO. This request then ends on a pile of requests. Then a municipal worker calls you back to clarify and redirect you to the right person. And then finally, a half year later. A phone call takes place, asking for clarification and concluding that this particular desk at the gemeente is not the one we're looking for. Redirecting us to the desk of parking and a Buiten Beter app. -----------------------------------------These are potential showcases]

In contextures, will then transform into the contexts, problems, barriers It will all revolve around our experiences in Rotterdam, example of output are map/planner/landscape interfaces.

Going from A to B; From the situated location, to moving around in the city. Showing the pragmatic practice in opposing to a simple solution.

A ramp is a material fix but there is more to accessibility than just a fix.

Potential Showcase

As example: To get the 'social taxi' you need to request it, in order to request it, you need to apply for it and hope that you get access to this particular service, this procedure takes 6-8 weeks, meaning that you stay -in position- for a long time. Before a next 'turn', you need to wait and maintain mentally stable to continue.  And even when you 'get' to the 'final' tile, it does not mean that the acquired service is functioning properly.

Another example: My brother wants to visit my mother. Since he is in a wheelchair, the quick fix is a collection of stable large and smaller ramps, then there is still the threshold of entering the small pavement, to get on the ramp. So for that ramp, you need to be sure that there is not a car in front on the house. So that means, to claim the parking spot in front of the house and also changing the brick/tile from the pavement to the street into this ramp-like tile. In order to do this, you write a letter / mail to the municipality. The WMO. This request then ends on a pile of requests. Then a municipal worker calls you back to clarify and redirect you to the right person.  And then finally, a half year later. A phone call takes place, asking for clarification and concluding that this particular desk at the gemeente is not the one we're looking for.  Redirecting us to the desk of parking and a Buiten Beter app.

How do you plan to make it?

[drawing, editing, annotations, public]

Using drawings and annotations as vessels for human touch to add incalculated dimensions as some sort of visual essay per situation.

and to develop a series as a visual essay per person.

[catalog]

Gather sources, contexts and information

[game]

Using the stories of close relatives/friends/myself the situations

[thesis]

In my thesis proposal I play with the 6 sides of the cube

Socially - Personal, Affordable, Family, Housing

Accessibly - Disability, Information provision, infrastructures

Bureaucratically - Protocols of local municipal / governments

Architecturally - Buildings, ways, pavements, roads, streets

Virtually - Imagery, impression, media, software, simulation, games

Culturally - budget cuts, false iconism, counterculture, grassroots, community, festivals/gigs/events

What is your timetable?

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\PHASE ONE //

December

• 1-7 December: Attend the Worksession: a Cane, Sticky notes, Another body, look for connections, insights, network
• 17 December: Assessment
• Note crucial feedback -> Develop a new version for collective annotation
• Continue the catalog

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\PHASE TWO//

January

• Process the feedback of the assessment, revisit project proposal
• Draw more
• Notes and developments
• Have the check-in talk with Michael/Manetta/Steve
• Start making stuff!!!!

February / March

• prototype the format -> map, play with material en drawing, print and cut out the process, experiment with tiles and imagery, web interfaces, 3D visuals]
• Research & Experiment in Unity / HTML CSS / paper (map) formats /
• Research the interfaces
• Brainstorm / feedback with people
• Notes and developments
• Test / discuss ideas.

April

• Continue meetups: test design
• Prototype format
• Finetune
• Brainstorm / feedback with people
• Notes and development

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\PHASE THREE//

May

• Print / Publish
• Final test

June

• Final feedback and finetuning and deliver
• documentation
• Assessment
• Graduate
• Build up

July

• Build up and present
  

Who can help you and how?

XPUB tutors/peers/alumni

.ZIP

Friends and Family

Open Call: anyone interested in / the people that want to participate.

The people in Gent during the worksession

People outside the bubble

Relation to previous practice

Bachelor works:

3D / Worldbuilding - The Monster of Albert Heijn / Happytalism / Concrete Desert

Video - How to enter the art academy with a Wheelchair

Design thinking: GENERATION Y?

XPUB

SI23

• PUBLIC TRANSPORT
• COUNTERMAPPING =BUGS OF MISCONDUCT
• Method(ol(atry)ogy) is a way of surviving experience
• /door/PORT

SI24

• ROTTERDAM 2040 / CybeRdam2077  - PolderPunk?
• --------Benchmarking-------
• poinxs (points of inaccess)
• Pedestrian / virtual walk

Relation to a larger context

Recurring topics that are linked to my thesis will be divided through multiple chapters and key issues, but will all be connected through contexts and how these elements have thresholds and tension drawing between them and eachother.

Virtually ~ Architecturally / Innovation and Virtual Tools as development or demolition of reality

~ Imagery, impression, media, softwares, simulation, games, buildings, ways, pavements, roads, streets ~

Bureaucratically ~ Culturally / zoning: friction between counter culture and bureaucracy, false iconism vs community

~ Protocols of local municipal / governments / Budge cuts, false iconism, counterculture, grassroots, community, festivals/gigs/events~

Socially ~ Accessibly / (un)Familiar barriers, social thresholds and unmeant ignorance

~ Personal, Affordable, Family, Housing, Disability, Information provision, infrastructures~

References

Constant workshops in Gent Constant -. https://constantvzw.org/site/Open-call-Worksession-a-Cane-Sticky-notes-Another-body.html.

Rotterdam, Is it happening?. https://www.rotterdamisithappening.nl/. Possible Bodies(Rocha, J., Snelting, F.) (2022) Volumetric Regimes: Material cultures of quantified presence, Signs of Clandestine Disorder: The continuous aftermath of 3D-computationalism. The Industrial Continuum of 3D https://volumetricregimes.xyz/index.php?title=The_Industrial_Continuum_of_3D

Griffin, M. and Kittler, F.A. (1996) 'The City is a Medium,' New Literary History, 27(4), pp. 717–729. https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.1996.0051.

Mattern, S. (2017) 'A city is not a computer,' Places [Preprint], (2017). https://doi.org/10.22269/170207.

Boer, R. (2023) Smooth city: Against Urban Perfection, Towards Collective Alternatives.

Van Den Bosch Christensen, L. (2015) I, (for one), welcome our new (Google) overlords. https://research.hva.nl/en/publications/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-google-overlords.

Wan, C. (2024) - Into The Digital Void https://canvaswan.com/into-the-digital-void

Wan, C. (2024) - Into the Digital Cartographic Void https://canvaswan.com/into-the-digital-cartographic-void.

Siegel, J. (2024) Default Alpha: Mapping the Emergence of Synthetic Culture in New Towns

Overdijke, M. (2024) The City as Anthology: Movements at the Margins of Public Space

Steyerl. H (2013) How Not To Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE3RlrVEyuo.

Hito Gibbons, A. (2022) Salvaging situationism: Race and space - salvage. https://salvage.zone/salvaging-situationism-race-and-space/.

Vers Beton (2024) Home - Vers beton. https://www.versbeton.nl/.

Recht op de stad - Recht op de stad (2024). http://www.rechtopdestad.nl/.

Kooyman. M (2024) Rotterdam niet langer armste stad, maar nog steeds leven duizenden inwoners in armoede. Algemeen Dagblad, October 17, 2024https://www.ad.nl/rotterdam/rotterdam-niet-langer-armste-stad-maar-nog-steeds-leven-duizenden-inwoners-in-armoede~a7f79119/

Liukku. A, (2024) 'Waarom Rotterdam opnieuw onderaan staat in lijst met gezonde steden: aantal punten valt op.' Algemeen Dagblad, November 11, 2024, https://www.ad.nl/rotterdam/waarom-rotterdam-opnieuw-onderaan-staat-in-lijst-met-gezonde-steden-aantal-punten-valt-op~adec7bd9/

Unitary urbanism at the end of the 1950s (Issue three of the journal of the Situationist International) December 1959 https://libcom.org/article/unitary-urbanism-end-1950s.

Mass Moving (2007) [documentary]. Directed by Françoise Levie. Belgium. Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds