Rotterdam Day 01
I’m in Rotterdam right now, invited as part of an academic research exchange with the WdKA. I’ll be presenting on Matter vs. Spirit tomorrow, my first official presentation of the research, and I’m quite excited and also nervous. I mean the MA program here is literally called X-Pub…
I met with our lovely host Skye today and got a quick tour of the academy and will explore more tomorrow. What I've seen so far is amazing, I’m so jealous of all the studios here and the amount of convivial shared working space. Not to mention the architecture. Our students would bring out the pitchforks if they realized what a design academy can be. I'll probably write more about this later as it also relates to my research in terms of trying to set up the micro-press in our VC lab which now seems so modest by comparison (but still important!).
I know Skye from way back when in Montréal, and it was very nice to reconnect and also share more about all of our overlaps in the art/theory/activism world. She reminded me of the brilliant work of my dear friends Sophie and Ronald with MICE Magazine which feels like a lifetime ago. And Sheena who brought me to Banff for my first academic conference ever. The conversation made the world feel both small and vast in the most beautiful ways.
Every time I travel on these "work" trips I'm so so grateful for the privilege and also a bit confused by how I end up in these places and spaces. I can't help but question myself about the value of my work, trying to understand how it has literally brought me to places like Melbourne, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong (though that was largely mom :P), Moers, NYC, Pittsburgh, Houston, etc. and of course the multiple connections to the Netherlands (Nijmegen(in 2011!!!), Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Utrecht, and now Rotterdam). The design work I've done has been primarily local in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke, small small scale relatively, though I suppose I've worked hard to connect it to the broader thinking around design and social justice. I'm also realising that the internationalism of anarchist currents, and how I've found "my people" and my practice and theory through them is a big part of it too. But the impostor syndrome remains. All this to say, much gratitude to all those that have deemed it important for me to join them briefly. And a special shoutout to Oliver Vodeb, who significantly guided my path here, I owe you a call!
I'm very much enjoying the creature comforts of the hotel I am staying in tonight as well and I'm a little scared that I could really get used to this...