After the bubble bursts, after the trend passes, when the spotlight shifts, when the honeymoon is over, when the speculators and the luxury-seekers and the digital nomads move on again to the next hot spot: what will remain for the rest of us? “Value” is easy to measure in euros or dollars or pounds. But what about “values” like conscientiousness, mutual responsibility, sustainability, cultural vitality and collective well-being? How can we agitate for the legislation, regulation and enforcement of values that don’t get figured in to the national GDP? And if those of us with privilege or power abdicate our responsibility for our neighbors - if we wait to do the right thing until the law demands it of us - won’t it already be too late? What makes a citizen? What makes a neighborhood? What makes a community worth living in? How can we more sensitively evaluate the shifting interests that compete for the soul of our city, and how can we know whom to trust? Our exploding international popularity brings many advantages, but it raises two significant challenges. First there is that which Barcelona has come to call “parquetematización” as they watch their city turn into a theme park for tourists. Second - more subtle, and therefore possibly even more dangerous - is the expansion of the international luxury market within Portugal. Wealthy foreign visitors and nomads help our economy with one hand, but with the other hand they displace, dispossess and marginalize the vast majority of local residents. In both of these cases, there is little short-term reward for social responsibility or compassion, and for the voluntary self-regulation that protects us from the consequences of irresponsible resource extraction, mindless consumption, excessive waste and growing socioeconomic inequality. Both of these challenges carry an opportunity for reflection and for action. Creatives must intervene. Artists, musicians, writers, actors, dancers and all of those who work in the culture sector must pay attention, get wise, step up and participate actively. In this process, the power of art must be effectively deployed as a tool for radical compassion, to the long-term benefit of all. The path we walk is risky, but together we can find the best way forward. Finding inspiration, but not taking advantage. Openness, not opportunism. Curiosity, not greed. Embracing, not grasping. Inclusivity, not exclusivity. In order to create a space for empathy, intimacy and unbiased conversation, Wozen is pleased to host the conference What Will Remain and invite the Lisbon community to join us on Thursday April 4th to talk about waht matters. Moderated by Joanna Hecker (historian of architecture and art, head of International Partnerships at the Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa, and co-founder of the Lisbon Living Room Sessions), these conversations will spark a collective reflection upon sustainability, waste, over-consumption, gentrification, standardization, and the loss of cultural identity. Wozen also open the doors for the last day of the exhibition "No Future Without Memory" - developed by the artist duo from London Expanded Eye. The conference is an attempt to highlight one of the strongest processes of urban change; the process of gentrification. Gentrification materializes the struggle for the preservation of identity and memory of the community and brings a reflective look into a global mentality through the local perspective of Lisbon. For this conference, Wozen is delighted to invite our upcoming residents: architect Afaina de Jong and artist Inna Vision; to join the guest speakers: urban geographer Luis Mendes and Frame Colectivo. During a public program in May, incoming and upcoming residents will engage consciously with the process of gentrification. This activity comes to gather the creative minds from Lisbon that are already committed to a movement toward awareness, and to open a space for the exchange of background and ideas in order to build the new Lisbon while preserving something genuine and honest. We will join together in a task force with, and as, local change agents to further explore the notions of spatial identity. These conversations will be broadcasted from a spatial intervention and will be translated into speculative spatial models. >>>> Guest Speakers >>>> Inna Vision | Inna Vision is a self taught artist and selecta who has been active in the creative art and music scene for more almost two decades. Inna Vision organized legendary underground parties, like the Circle of Sole in Rotterdam, co-founded Ultra de la Rue Gallery in the Red Light District in Amsterdam, programmed festivals like North Sea Jazz and worked with the likes of Doze Green, Dego (4 Hero), IG Culture, and Brian Jackson (Gil Scott- Heron). His passion for music and design comes from legendary jazz musicians, Sun Ra, Miles Davis, John and Alice Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Pharaoh Sanders amongst many others, who in the the early 70ties started to gravitate towards a deeper meaning of space and time in order to connect with a higher creative force. . www.innavisions.tumblr.com Afaina de Jong | Afaina works on the boundary of architecture and art. Her aim is to cross the boundaries of the traditional architecture practice by dealing with the existing city with an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach, integrating theory and research with design. Afaina’s work is deeply connected to represent people and cultural movements that are not traditionally represented in architectural form. By using form languages, colors, patterns and narratives that are other, she works towards a more inclusive experience of space. For Afaina it is important that architecture is not only perceived, but also experienced and interacted with. Her discourse is international and intersectional, connecting popular culture with architecture. www.afarai.com Luís Mendes | Geographer. Invited Professor at the School of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon (2005/2006), at the Lisbon School of Education (2010 / ...) and the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Lisbon (IGOT-UL) (2012 / ...). Member of the Portuguese Association of Geographers, the Geography Teachers Association and the Association of Lisbon Tenants, integrating since 2012 and 2018, respectively, the board of the latter two. Since 2003, carries Permanent Researcher functions in the Centre for Geographical Studies of the University of Lisbon (CEG/UL) of IGOT-UL, in which has developed research in the fields of Urban Studies (notably gentrification and urban regeneration), Geographical Education and Teaching of Geography. He is author of more than one hundred and fifty titles: numerous papers, presentations, book chapters, technical opinions and reports, in addition to other publications in the area of research topics mentioned above. It was also awarded with the Amilcar Patrício Award 2005 by the Portuguese Association of Geographers. He has also worked in the last two years as an activist in the social movement Morar em Lisboa. Joanna Hecker | Historian of architecture and art, head of international partnerships at the Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa, co-founder of Lisbon Living Room Sessions. MA University of Toronto, PhD Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. Research interests include patronage patterns, and art as a feature and a function of cultural identity. Frame Colectivo | Gabriela Salazar e Agapi Dimitriadou Frame Colectivo works in the intersection between architecture, art and research in the field of urban micropolitics. It prioritizes collaborative and interdisciplinary methodologies. Frame has developed multiple projects with the support of Lisbon City Hall, Almada City Hall, Ciência Viva - National Agency for the Promotion of the Scientific and Technological Culture, BIP/ZIP Program, several parish councils, Institut Français du Portugal, Goethe-Institut Portugal and Lisbon Architecture Triennale. Currently, Frame is developing the project "Pelas Tascas de Lisboa", an artistic research that gathers 30 co-creators to reflect on the city's transformations starting from places of commensality. It has the support of the European Project Designscapes. http://framecolectivo.com Supported by: Fórum do Património 2019 | Amsterdan Fund for the Arts | Creative Industries Fund NL Adress: Rua das Janelas Verdes, 128B - Lisboa | Date: April 4th | Time: 7-9pm | free entrance | Info: hello@wozenstudio.com >>> entrance will not be allowed after 7:30 <<<
