Feedback Warming-up practice

Feedback Warming up practice Liefde in de Stad
26th of March 2009


Hi everybody,
Thanks for all your good work. Hereby some general comments and things we liked.

Presentation is important! If a document is well-written and has a proper lay-out – your ideas make much more of an impression. By communicating your ideas in a lucid and a comprehensible way chances of bringing across your message increase considerably. And a small detail: for the next time, please include your name on the documents.

We felt the quality of your practices differed. We were really happy with the students who took the assignments as an opportunity to start investigating the subject in their own manner. We really liked the personal city map of Steffi for example, or the Randomizer of Fleur, as a device for the Derive assignment. We were also really impressed by the photographs taken by the helium filled balloons by Elena. We also liked the way Elena responded to assignment nr. 5 (react on images) by making her own pictures. Also Steffi did a great job with that assignment. It was inspiring to see that some of you really started their own process already.

Sadly, it seemed that a couple of you regarded the Warming up practice only as homework, and seemed to have answered the questions as easy and as quickly as possible. Some people probably didn’t even leave their house for the practice, which is kind of weird in a project about public space.

We feel that for the Liefde in de Stad project, it is really important to develop a more abstract idea about the city. We particularly loved the concept of a city as a place where people never sit still and consume everywhere (Rianne), or the idea of a city as a collection of individuals, rather than collectives (Melle). Furthermore, we really loved Merels observation that a city is all about rhythms. Other interesting observations were for example Melinas idea that a city often numbs our senses and Karliens point of view that the quality of the city is found in places where people accidentally come together.

A last comment: we really encourage the people who took the practice from a personal point of view – immediately a story reads in a more interesting way if it starts from a personal stand (for instance Tom). However, we feel it’s important that a personal story must be taken to a higher, more general level. What does a personal story tell us about the structure of a city for instance. Or how can you translate a personal feeling to an image or a general comment, in a way that it applies to more people than only yourself.

Anyway, we really enjoyed reading all your documents and felt there was a lot of potential to build on to. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Best, Lisa and Jeldau