Co-creating Reality

In the three day workshop students (Design Academy Eindhoven and Accademia di belle arti Venezia), were asked to map traces or practices of (informal) appropriation of public space in the six Sestieri (the six neighborhoods) of Venice. 

The students were asked to walk along the borders of a Sestieri (each departing from a different point in the city) and to start walking simultaneously. When a trace or practice of appropriation of public space was encountered (such as elephant paths or a street vendors’ selling spot/escape route), an sms was sent to the rest of the group, this way allowing this category to be added to the collectively generated legend of the map. 

This practice enabled all members of the collective to reflect on their own observations (via the incoming messages) and to co-author the legend: a mutual influencing in the making of a physical reality and taxonomy through real-time digital exchange.

walked tracks (in red: street vendors escape routes)

co-creating the legend while walking

June 2014