pos weekender

18th to 20th october 2024

18th to 20th october 2024, we organized our first weekender, a collective get-together amidst the chaos, in the heart of amsterdam. approached as a research project, the 3 day event was about exploration of co-creation.

there tends to be this dominant idea that when you organize an event on a large scale, you as the initiator need to take responsibility and lead the way, read: a rigid, fixed organization. however, there’s also a possibility to take a step back at this very moment, in order to create space for others to do the same, and start creating together. collaborating and working together allow us to, first of all, create art from a space where needs are met, and second, learn from each other through the process of creation. this is where the word "open" comes in, there’s space for people's initiatives and ideas to come to the forefront. 

in the process leading up to the event, we talked with people asking questions like: “hey, what can we do with this space? what do you envision?” it’s about throwing ideas out there and seeing what happens rather than setting strict boundaries. from there and from a layer of trust, we share programming and bring all of it together. it was a choice to keep the overarching idea and themes of the entire weekend in mind in this process. 

of course this process gets put to the test of the real world. there would be no such thing as creating an event without any time pressure or any limiting boundaries and this requires flexibility. the co-creation processes will, especially because of these constraints, face challenges. what’s important is creating space to discuss these challenges openly, before, during, and after the event, to ensure we stay connected to the creative spark and the feelings we want to share. in the end, it will only add useful insights to the research report. ;)

this event was an important learning experience on many levels. it had an important impact on the organization and really shaped the path forward.