PUBLIC EVENTS
The Independent School for the City organises various public events, addressing topics that respond to current relevant issues in urbanisation. Our regular lecture evenings include School's Out! on every last Friday of the month, and the research based lecture series Back to School with... In addition the school organises various public events that respond to current relevant issues and offers a platform to other organisation dealing with the city. The events are accessible to all 'urban' professionals in Rotterdam and beyond. More information about upcoming events here.
SCHOOL'S OUT!
Every last Friday of the month the Independent School for the City celebrates the start of the weekend with a public lecture, a short film, a drink and some food. School’s Out! is meant for a general (public) audience and the lectures are loosely related to the curriculum of the School. Over the past years more than 45 School's Out! evenings have been organised with speakers such as Momoyo Kaijima (Studio BOW-WOW, JP), Petra Blaisse (Inside-Outside, NL), Lesley Lokko (Architect, ZA), Sam Jacob (Architect, UK), Lisa Doeland (philosopher, NL), Adam Nathaniel Furman (designer, UK), Malu Borja (Al Borde, EC), Samir Bantal (OMA, NL), Alessandra Covini and Giovanni Bellotti (Studio Ossidiana, NL), Adriaan Geuze (West-8, NL), Reinier de Graaf (OMA, NL) and Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy (Curator, MX)
BACK TO SCHOOL WITH...
Back to School with... is a sequence of research based lectures where we invite notable people that woke our interest and curiosity and from whom we want to learn more. For each series of three evenings, we ask someone that inspires us to design and curate a lectures programme around one topic or question that is on their mind at that moment. Each event starts with a collective dinner. People that have previously curated a Back to School with... series at the Independent School are Marina Otero Verzier, Rick ten Doeschate, Arna Mačkić, One Planet Port, Lena Knappers and Bram van Ooijen. More info about Back to School with... can found here
OTHER EVENTS
In addition to our regular lecture evenings, the school organises a variety of public events that explore timely and relevant topics in thinking about the city and urbanisation. We also provide a platform for other organisations engaged with urban issues, offering opportunities to collaborate on events or rent our space. Past collaborators with the Independent School include the Ukraine-Netherlands Urban Network, Rotterdamse Dakendagen, Nieuwe Instituut, Vers Beton, the City of Rotterdam, De Dependance, International New Town Institute, MacGuffin Magazine, and Bloody Beautiful.
EXHIBITIONS
The Independent School for the City sometimes features various exhibitions that are either the result of school projects or a stand-alone expo compiled by (architecture) professionals. We have showed a collection of Dog Poo Bags by Peter Veenstra (Lola Landscape Architecture), the result of two design studios at Delft University of Technology dealing with urbanization in the greater Accra region and a selection of pictures of North Korean interiors taken by photographer and architectural critic Oliver Wainwright. More info can be found on the Exhibitions page.