Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:02 Hello, and welcome to failed architecture, breeze, blogs, or podcasts in which I editors share their thoughts on works in progress, urgent matters, and current happenings in architecture and spatial politics. My name is Charlie. <inaudible> an editor on fellow architecture's Amsterdam team. And for this episode, we're talking about the first and second edition of failed architecture situations and events series, which aims to take critical reflections on architecture and space from the digital realm to the real world. The following conversation hosted by my fellow editor. Any book took place shortly after the second situation swarming the red light district with sound a moment when we were all pretty excited and also somewhat exhausted after swarming around D'Evelyn for an hour, you can get more information about the event swarming and the forthcoming fourth situation reclaiming the red light district on our website or in the links provided in the show notes. Anyway, without further ado, here's the conversation.
Speaker 1 00:00:58 Hello everybody. My name is Vinay. I'm also a part of field architecture where here I'm at the field architecture breeze blocker studio, and I'm here with, uh, a nice bunch of people. And we did something amazing tonight, field architecture, situation, number two, swarming the red light district with a lot of people in the rain and this day in Amsterdam. But, uh, yeah. So what we actually do, what is, uh, what is swarming and, um, yeah, what, what does it mean? What does, what does it do and to, uh, yeah, to learn more about that, I'm going to ask, uh, are doing, going Florida. We're sitting here next to me. Arturo is also part of a collective called tools for action. And we have been setting up the situation together, but maybe first floor. Would you like to say something about swarming and yeah,
Speaker 2 00:01:38 Well, today we try to move as a group through the red light district and at five meters distance and we try to test yeah. If it was possible to, uh, be present as a group and listen to each other and yeah. Um, go through this space or something. Yeah. Would you like to add something? Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:02:00 It was a dream coming true.
Speaker 4 00:02:04 You keep saying, I really want to know imagining this
Speaker 3 00:02:09 To happen already since half a year. And we have done a one little test with seven people in Vienna, but this was the first time now in Amsterdam together with you as the NEC and Charlie from field architecture floor. And then Hooley suddenly popped up two weeks ago, giving me a text that she's coming to Rotterdam from Bogota and is here for three months. And we know each other from working together in a book for the, you match a trans March. And yeah, this is just a very special moment to start.
Speaker 1 00:02:49 So maybe you can say something about what you did at this March. You made something really beautiful, right? Maybe Holly, would you like to say something about that? Hello.
Speaker 5 00:02:56 I am who I am from Bogota, Columbia, and I work in our organization that their name is red. Commonatorial trans, and we work with, um, sex work, trans sex worker, homeless, eh, transparent source user of drugs. And the, I think that last three years, we make like an, a big moment in Colombia because we think that the LGBT March in Columbia don't represent trans rights and we won two separate years and we want to have like an autonomy, a space there that we can talk about our necessities in Columbia of trans people or of sex workers. And we noticed with our tour and we create like a big movement and we create aim to it's culture, like transcend Flav lists that
Speaker 1 00:04:02 Right level inflatables.
Speaker 5 00:04:06 Yes. Aim. And it's an participatory process that sex workers say homeless people make these influ influence. And it's incredible because, eh, in this moment in Columbia, we, we have like a many mobilization in this moment. And when the people say this in Flavell is they say, Hey, here are the red company trans. And they come to this mobilization to talk about trans rights in Colombia because they, eh, the situation of trans people in Colombia. It's so difficult in this moment to via transperson in Columbia. It's so dangerous. The larger we have to retune trans people murdered because they are trans. And this year we have then a trans woman that they are killing because they are trans the situation needs so difficult.
Speaker 1 00:05:09 Yeah. Thank you for sharing that story and really amazing how you've been using these marches and also with these large, uh, uh, inflatables to, uh, yeah. To, to, uh, yeah. To make sure that people know about your cause and amazing. You've been working with Artur and we also hope to, uh, yeah. To work with Arturo also in the situations where you've been organizing in the red light district to maybe also at some point use these inflatables here in the streets. Uh, also maybe to, yeah. I mean, maybe the situation is obviously not as great as what you're mentioning now, but I think there's also something happening here in the red light districts, where, for example, there's a lot of pressure on the sex workers too. We have been working here for decades. Like over the last few years, they've been telling them like, Hey, uh, you might have to pack your stuff and leave. We're going to create something for you outside the city and you might be there and we're going to, uh, yeah, you might lose your livelihood here. So, uh, I think what we've been doing here is also a little of, a bit of a response to that.
Speaker 5 00:06:04 Yes. And I think that in Colombia, we live the same situation, like a similar situation with sex worker, because like the mayor and the government, they don't want to see sex work. Yes. They want to put in a place that any very see here, like outside the scenery, eh, they, they say to in, in a spacious that, yes, we respect a sex worker rights, but in the real they want to put outside the Siri. Yes. It like a moral is perish. And these, I think that they want to erase sex worker to the space. Yes. It like, you are a sex worker or you don't have the right of the city. You have to be in an, a specific place, but we don't want that. Anyone see you. Yes. And the consequence of these SP is like sex worker can be dangerous. Yes. It like, they are not going to have the control of the space. They are going to be outside the city. Yes. But in not like she's going to go out the city, it like in Columbia, we have like, they want to move. Yes. All, all these year, they want to move to push out their sex workers. Yes. In Columbia, it's legal and here it's legal, but it like, they are so prejudiced. Yes. Prerequisites you
Speaker 6 00:07:38 Producers and
Speaker 5 00:07:39 A stigma because they say, yeah, they, we respect. But real, they don't want that sex workers that Amsterdam, that the people come to Amsterdam to the
Speaker 1 00:07:51 Red line. Yeah. Of course. That's exactly the point to try to make here. Right. They don't want to do is to come to the red light district. What they're saying is they want to have quality tourists. So basically rich tourists and not the tourists who come for the sex workers, very complicated situation and yeah. Very bad situation. Also for the sex workers. We also can't work right now because of, uh, of COVID the windows have to be closed. Um, I would also like maybe to involve, uh, Charlie, I was sitting next to me also part of, uh, field architecture. Uh, Johnny we've also been working on these situations together. Can you maybe say something about the ideas behind situations and, uh, where we, how we got here?
Speaker 7 00:08:29 Um, so I think failed architecture started, although I wasn't part of the felt architecture at that point, uh, as a, uh, series of events, right. As a blog and a series of events and slowly but surely we became more kind of text based. We started podcasts. And I think the situations was just an attempt to be outside a little bit more have, uh, people gathered together, but also to sort of challenge this quite boring, uh, events structure, where, you know, you have a speaker and you have like group of people and they listen and they stroke their chins and they think, Hmm, okay. I've learned something and they go away and nothing changes instead with situations. I think we wanted to have people present in space and being, not so much passive observers or passive consumers of information, but as active participants in the process of engaging with the problem or the issue of the city, I suppose, in architecture in general, this is cooked up prior to the Corona virus pandemic.
Speaker 7 00:09:40 And so we put it on the back burner for quite some time, and it's been a real pleasure to engage with tools for action and floor to get ourselves kind of back into gear. Right. Like, and I, I really felt that this evening, um, you know, being outside finally for the first time in ages, I was saying just before, like I forgot, I, I thought I might've forgotten how to dance. You know, I'm like, we haven't really talked about what happened this season, not to trivialize the very important things that we have spoken about, but like, I think that there was a lightness to what we did today that was, uh, that contained the potential for something really, really promising. Right. Flow. Would you like to, no, just
Speaker 2 00:10:28 Like, did anyone mentioned it? We danced through the street,
Speaker 7 00:10:31 So right now, but anyway, maybe, maybe one of you wants to talk about what we actually did today. Um,
Speaker 1 00:10:40 Yeah, please. Yeah. Yeah. Please say your name and, uh, like also the organization you represent
Speaker 8 00:10:50 Part of the group here around the table and I'm from papaya queer, feminist collective four and BI trans refugees, immigrants, and artists also support, uh, sex workers. And, uh, yeah, we, uh, based here in the Netherlands and we are so happy to have Julio from porta and we are gonna do an event together in June. So yeah. Check us out. And the subtler meteors and what I find so nice and beautiful is that by queers, quite young, we actually only became like really active since last year in November. And now there's so many organizations, so many beautiful people who support us and things. This is important work, what we do. And we start to get more, more connected like tonight, I got to know new people and we were <inaudible> and me dancing on the streets with holy and the rest of the group. And what we did was specially uh, meet around outer care.
Speaker 8 00:11:52 It is an Amsterdam and we got, each of us, got a speaker in our hands and we, first of all, had an introduction and we were told to keep distance, of course. And then Holly was the DJ for the nights. And we were dancing around the streets with beautiful, they get on and music from around the world. And what was beautiful is that, first of all, we haven't been a group together. Many of us has, oh, I've only been dancing at home maybe. And we were dancing on the streets, making some atmospheres, some life in the city, which is very dead and silent right now. And it was beautiful to see even people around people who came by or people from their houses outside their windows were enjoying waving filming. And what was also interesting is that after some time people were like losing an arm and it was very different from being on a, like a square till we went to the smallest streets of Amsterdam, uh, where the sound is obviously different. And if you're kind of more and more community, like we were more, more, more together. And it was, I think for all of us, a very different movement after a long time. So thank you for
Speaker 1 00:13:05 This. Amazing, amazing, thank you for sharing that. And whatever's really loved about the music that we were here that was being played by Holly tonight. Like, um, before Corona, there was obviously all the sex workers were still working and also a lot of people from Latin America and they would play a lot of, uh, reggaeton and Colombia all day and all night. And if they would open the window to let a client come in, you would hear the music spilling into the streets. And it was really amazing that, uh, some of these sounds were brought back into the red light district tonight. That was really cool. Yeah. What
Speaker 5 00:13:38 Do you think about the silence in the streets and the relation with these activity? I don't know if you've seen, because it's because it's, it's so strange. The silence in COVID in Tanzania, in all the country. Yes. In Colombia, in any moment in the center of the city that, um, people can work in sex worker any in a moment it's silence, but in this moment, the only song that they, that they have it like the police. What do you think about the silence of the streets here in Amsterdam, in the red line and, and are songs today that it like music, we don't have quarantined today. What do you think about?
Speaker 6 00:14:32 Well,
Speaker 3 00:14:34 I loved hearing the book day, uh, from, um, the, the famous raid Tom's son. I kind of remember the bit, um, one time a protest Gezi park in a Istanbul. Uh, we went from the Gezi park to the radio station and then the, the process went to the radio station and people went out of the windows and also yeah. Beating on the tents. And there were also some people coming out of the windows. So I felt like, yeah, something like this could happen here as well. So it was like, um, can create,
Speaker 1 00:15:13 Yeah, we've had a few people actually like, uh, clapping along from the windows. Right. Yeah. But it's interesting that what you, what you say about the silence, because I think normally this is enabled with a lot of noise and, uh, I think this silence is also really being politicized here. Uh, so there's a lot of people saying like, oh, they should be assigned sign neighborhoods. And this is a residential neighborhoods and we don't want noise. We don't want sex work. We don't want parties. We want to get the cheap tourists out. And so silence is being brought as something that is really fantastic. It should be silent. And, uh, yeah, maybe there's different opinions about that. Right.
Speaker 7 00:15:45 There was a moment where the someone called out their window to tell us to shut up. Right. I wasn't, I was a little bit far ahead, but like, um, like what was that about?
Speaker 8 00:15:58 Uh, what I heard was the last words being yet, it stopped the music, something my baby, and I was thinking, okay, you're living in the middle of the center of the senders floor on the first floor. Um, you should not live here if you don't want some, some vibe in the city. Yeah. It's yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7 00:16:18 This is, it's a little bit of a cliche to say, like, this isn't a place for children, but, um, no, in this instance,
Speaker 8 00:16:25 He's having a hard time in, COVID not used to it because it's so sad.
Speaker 7 00:16:29 I mean, I, I thought that was kind of perfect. Mostly people were kind of looking outside of that window and sort of curious, I feel like, I feel like a lot of people were really hungry to sort of feel like what was going on, you know, really want to, we're eating it up, you know, like what, what was happening was strange. And it's strange that that's strange, right. Because it's the center of the city and it's, <inaudible> like, everybody knows that this is a really, really busy place. So like, it's kind of, yeah. It's very odd that you
Speaker 3 00:17:01 Could describe it like an echo of what was before. And then yes. So when I listen to Tori echo and it just passes by to answer
Speaker 8 00:17:11 Your question about how is it that is so sad. And I haven't, I don't know, maybe it's controversial. I have like two sites that it's has been beautiful to see Amsterdam and have a kind of seeing the CTA again, having, walking through, be able to see it because you can actually walk on the street and not have to bump into people, uh, on the evening. You cannot even walk before. And of course, then I miss Amsterdam. I miss the vibe. I miss the city. I miss miss too, to see people and different parties, underground things going on. But I think it kind of cool to have a change. And then, then to see where it goes. So it's like these two feelings,
Speaker 5 00:17:50 Like when I don't know why, when I, when I think about silence in pandemic Mia, I associate, we social, social cleanliness. Yes. It like, yes. The people grant that the person be quiet. Yes. The people grant that the sex workers are quiet are people who aren't, that they neighbors who'd don't have sex workers. Don't have a homeless people. They want to clean. Yes. And I, as you said, associate, and like, um, like silence with clean, the neighborhoods cleans, eh, of the identities that they don't want. Yes. And I think that the governments around the world, one to society be quiet. Yes. To have silence. And I think that it's so problematic for me, the silence, because it was Daniel, it was the silence. Yes. And it's so difficult because the identities that they want to raise are like sex work cares and trans people, people of color, eh, they want, they want, and they like that. We are quiet and yes, I went to France.
Speaker 1 00:19:16 I think this is a beautiful ending. Thank you so much, everyone for joining this conversation really wonderful.
