The City As Stage: Critical Interventions in Public Space (2025/2026: Periode 4)

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Cursusdoel

This course aims at training your:
- knowledge of and insight in current debates on art and activism in public spaces at advanced level;
- ability to critically observe, interpret and evaluate interventions and to communicate about the findings at advanced level;
- awareness of the implications and concrete effects of interventions in public space by designing and executing a small-scale intervention in public space (methodological skills) at advanced level.

Vakinhoudelijk

With over half of the world's 7 billion people already living in cities and their number growing by the minute, social, economic and environmental tensions increase proportionally. Crime, pollution, social inequality, and the discrimination of minorities (black and brown, women, LGTBQ+, disabled, neurodiverse etc.) are just a few of the burning issues that come to mind. At the same time, over the last years there has also been a significant upsurge in social movements and activism, taking the form of protests, assemblies and interventions in public space (Black Lives Matter, student mobilizations, cultural workers’ initiatives, Extinction Rebellion etc.). Such practices raise interesting questions: Who does the city belong to, how do we shape the urban landscape? How can we inhabit it in new ways? This course focuses on activist and artistic interventions in urban space and how these actively and critically re-think and reconfigure the city and public space. It investigates how cities can be used as platforms where notions of citizenship, community and public sphere are being performed and reconfigured.

You will reflect on these questions not only by discussing texts, but also by going into the city of Utrecht and working through these questions in more experiential and creative manners. This course celebrates the motto: thinking by doing. Furthermore, the course invites you to explore and define your singular and collective engagements with respect to issues of public space and the city. Therefore, this course requires a genuine interest in the topics of the course, and an open and curious attitude.

The course focuses on cultural and artistic interventions in urban space and how they actively re-think and reconfigure the city. It investigates how cities can be used as platforms where new notions of citizenship, community and public sphere are being performed. Using concepts and theories from performance studies, urban studies and public sphere theory we will discuss how power relations are performed in cities on a daily basis, how these can be critically revealed and (temporarily) disturbed through artistic interventions in public space. Next to discussing a variety of specific cases of public space intervention in class, you will design and execute a small-scale intervention in public space yourself in a small group of fellow students.

You will work on a series of assignments that lead you step by step to the actual execution of your intervention, engaging in a practice-led inquiry. You will receive regular feedback during the process, allowing you to improve your work during the course. Next to this, you will write a critical reflection paper in which you discuss and contextualize a particular strategy of intervention that you believe is a meaningful in the light of an engagement with the urban. Together these assignments form a portfolio that will be graded as a whole.

This course is part of the advanced trajectory Participatory Cultures: Civic Engagement in Media and Performance and the minor Creative Cities.

LAS and TCS students who follow this course as part of the core curriculum of their major, need to complete a compulsory preparation course/assignment. See for more information: https://tcs.sites.uu.nl/

Aanvullende informatie

This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you
- are a student in the BA Media and Culture and this course is part of your specialisation (verdiepingspakket)
- are a student in the BA Liberal Arts and Sciences or Taal- en Cultuurstudies and this course is part of your specialisation (kernpakket)
- are enrolled in the Creative Cities minor
- are an exchange student and meet the course’s entry requirements
In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.


Please note: the time slot shown here is not yet final, and may still be modified until the third Wednesday in September.

Werkvormen

Hoorcollege

Werkcollege
Toelichting

The program comprises of 4h working group sessions. Next to that students are required to undertake field research.

Bijdrage

Active participation during meetings; productive and cooperative attitude in group course work; peer feedback.

Voorbereiding

Reading mandatory literature, preparing week assignments prior to the meetings.

Toetsing

Opdracht(en) 1

Verplicht | Weging 30% | ECTS 2,25

Opdracht(en) 2

Verplicht | Weging 30% | ECTS 2,25

Opdracht(en) 3

Verplicht | Weging 40% | ECTS 3

Ingangseisen en voorkennis

Ingangseisen

Er is geen informatie over verplichte ingangseisen bekend.

Voorkennis

Good command of English, collaborative skills, general knowledge of the relation between arts and society.

Voertalen

  • Engels

Cursusmomenten

Gerelateerde studies

Thema's

Tentamens

Er is geen tentamenrooster beschikbaar voor deze cursus

Verplicht materiaal

Er is geen informatie over de verplichte literatuur bekend


Aanbevolen materiaal

Er is geen informatie over de aanbevolen literatuur bekend

Opmerkingen

This course has priority rules and a waiting list.

Coördinator

dr. T.U. Schmidt t.u.schmidt@uu.nl

Docenten

dr. L. Hettinga l.hettinga@uu.nl
dr. T.U. Schmidt t.u.schmidt@uu.nl
dr. M.E. Wong m.e.wong@uu.nl

Inschrijving

Deze cursus is open voor bijvakkers. Controleer wel of er aanvullende ingangseisen gelden.

Inschrijving
Van maandag 3 november 2025 tot en met vrijdag 21 november 2025

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