Among Amare

As part of an intensifying desire to respond to intertwined socio-environmental catastrophes, in this project the students explore artistic and designerly tactics to activate new levels of radical care and radical affection with and for our surroundings. With a focus on affirmative ethics as a practical exercise, we wonder what it means to shift focus from the disempowering feelings of fear or nostalgia, to the generative power of compassionate actions in the here and now.

In the first stages of this project the students closely collaborate with Amare, the new cultural center of The Hague. Amare is designed as a ‘multiversum’: an inviting, multifunctional, cultural and social space with streets, alleyways and small squares. In this context, the students work towards artistic interventions that invite one for empathic engagements with the built environment. Collectively, we will question what it means to “dare to care”.

The research group consists of students from the Interactive/ Media/ Department and the Artscience Interfaculty at the University of the Arts The Hague. The project is initiated and guided by Dutch architect and creative practice researcher Renske Maria van Dam, together with German performance researcher Leon Lapa Pereira, Irish atmosphere designer Hannah Mulqueen and German interactive textile artist Anja Hertenberger.

If you want to join or need more information about the project, take a look on the website of A Spacious Pedagogy.