In the 1970s Liz Christie started guerilla gardening in vacant lots in New York City. Later BMX lovers built their own bike-tracks in Berlin. This year people even organized a pool-party in someone else’s garden pool, which they located via Google Maps. Carving out a place for themselves in the dense urban landscape, these citizens reclaim public space as their domain. Taking over sites that were neglected or abandoned by city planners, urban pioneers convert no-mans land into everyman’s land.

Today’s pioneers have broadened their horizons, using new media, taking their initiatives to the next level. Skaters, treasure hunters, fishermen and bird-spotters build passionate on-line communities and publicly share their ‘hidden’ spots by plotting their world on maps. Through mobile technologies, emerging just-in-time communities create scenarios for spontaneously organized activity, conjuring up a new public space within the city. When it’s not raining, the park becomes a studio for the yoga club, a parking lot a guerilla drive-in cinema. The networked communities share online manuals and DIY instructions: anything from making your own flower seed bomb to a step-by-step guide how to use the city as a ‘parkours’. You are welcome to give this a try.

Some pioneers don’t exit the virtual world. They elect computer gaming as their literal playing field. They modify games, uncovering hidden grey areas in the original structures, setting up alternative activities: they produce films in online community games, build ‘chain-reactions’ in Second Life and perform Jack Ass stunts in the game Grand Auto Theft.




Over-regulated cities provide little room for their citizens to play freely, conduct experiments, and be adventurous. Scattered across Amsterdam, vacant lots, cul-de-sacs and corners of public squares are like gaping holes in the tightly-knit urban planning grid. These plots hold the promise of experiments and adventure. Sunday Adventure Club could not resist the temptation to pioneer in Amsterdam, and transformed such plots into ‘playscapes’, activating them as stages for free play.

Each plot is adopted and used by a club that would otherwise have no space in the city. Collaborating with young designers, each plot is turned into a scenography for a specific small adventure. Accessible to all, anyone can join the boat building club, take part in an outdoor cooking event with a fisherman, or visit the out-door beauty parlor for a make-over. A dog training group is set up in a school yard after school hours, and a study lab for urban flora & fauna takes up a piece of land near Artis Zoo. Atmospherical, organizational or functional, these designs turn near abandoned plots into public places with a strong identity and communal value.

Visit these plots for an adventure (not only on Sundays!). Or better yet: DO-IT-YOURSELF and claim your own space.



Help build a wooden boat, learn new fish recipes from a chef, teach your dog to dance, explore the diversity of urban flora or treat yourself to a pampering session in an outdoor beauty parlour! Join today!
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1. DOCK 'T BLAUWE MUURTJE
Boat building workshop
Every Tuesday & Thursday / 10:00 to 16:00
Czaar Peterstraat nr 169-171

2.CITY DOG ADVENTURE
Dog training activities
Every Wednesday & Sunday / 13:00 to 14:30
Kleine Wittenburgerstraat 100

3. NATURA VINCIT
Urban hortus botanicus with documentation centre
Every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday / 13:30 to 18:00
Plantage Kerklaan, next to Artis parking lot

4. BEAUTY ADVENTURE GALLERY
Open-air beauty parlour
Every Friday / 13:00 to 15:00
Voormalige Stadstimmertuin 1

5. FRIDAY FISHDAY
Cooking workshop followed al fresco dinner
Every Friday / 16:00 to 21:30
Prins Hendrikkade 189
Square of Amsterdam University ISHSS



Curator Ester van de Wiel [NL] In collaboration with Alexander Grünsteidl [GB], Gerda Zijlstra [NL], Hans van der Markt [NL] Exhibition concept & design Ester van de Wiel [NL] Communication design Koehorst in ‘t Veld [NL] Participants plots Pascal Leboucq [BE], Jozua Zaagman [NL], Maartje Dros [NL], Sannah Belzer [NL], Henriette Waal [NL] Co-production Premsela Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion Supported by SKOR Production Linde Dorenbosch, ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam Production Assistant Milou ten Berg, ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam

Thanks to the department Forum 3 of the Design Academy Eindhoven and all the participating clubs and communities, both online and offline!