Test_Lab: goes Noordkaap

Featuring Stichting de Stad, Stealth Unlimited, Arturo Hernandez, on-signal.org, Pablo Valbuena, Edwin van der Heide and many others.

Urban Play can be described as 'designing the city' and is considered common ground for architects and city planners on the one hand, and designers, artists, and performers on the other. Theory on Urban Play prophesises new forms of interactive spaces, stretching from virtual game-spaces to physical architectural spaces, as discussed by Friedrich von Borries et al. (eds.) in the book Space Time Play for instance. Furthermore, exhibitions such as Droog Event 2: Urban Play (curated by Scott Burnham) have clearly shown Urban Play's potential in the design field. In practice, however, only few architects and city planners realise the potential of Urban Play; only seldom do they contact designers, artists, or performers when faced with a tough urban planning case. This special edition of Test_Lab proposes to look into the true practical value of the notion of Urban Play by physically visiting a concrete case in urban development. There, game designers, media artists, and urban performers are invited to demonstrate how their work could contribute to the challenges faced by architects and city planners in their daily practice.

Can game designers, media artists, and urban performers live up to the predictions made by theory on the notion of Urban Play? Are these new forms of social interaction and uses of the city, these new ways of mixing physical and virtual, and new strategies of interfacing between citizens and their city really so useful to architects and city planners? Let's find out, when V2_ Test_Lab goes Noordkaap.

Noordkaap Foundation, a non-for profit organization for the stimulation of temporary re-use of vacant buildings in the cultural sector, is located at the very heart of an urban re-development case for the city planners of Dordrecht; the Voorstraat Noord. It is evident that this street has the potential to grow into the cultural axis between the new center currently in development and the historical center of Dordrecht. City developers, however, have not yet succeeded in advancing the street beyond a mere connection hub for quick commuting. The challenge to re-develop the Voorstraat Noord into the cultural axis between the old and new center is taken as a perfect case to put the potential of Urban Play to the test.

V2_ and Noordkaap Foundation invite you to witness how artists, designers, and performers give their views on potential solutions for the Voorstraat Noord urban development case, by taking you on city walks, seducing you to play urban games, and surprising you with artistic encounters on the street.

Test_Lab: goes Noordkaap (2008) from V2_ on Vimeo.