Biographies of the participants

Elger Blitz studied architecture and started Carve in 1997. - www.carve.nl -Carve is an office for
design in public space. Carve was nominated for the dutch-design-price in 2006, collaborated in the
project A8erna winner of the 4th edition " European prize for Urban public space"2006, 2nd price "
best project in public space haarlemmermeer" 2008. Currently working on projects in the Netherlands,
Spain, USA and Singapore.

Freelance journalist Tijs van den Boomen is specialized in public space, the domain ranging from
motorways to city centers and from industrial areas to shopping malls. He publishes in national
newspapers (NRC Handelsblad) and magazines (De Groene Amsterdammer, Intermediair, Blauwe
Kamer). He wrote books about the E3 (the European highway from Finland to Portugal), art on
roundabouts, shopping & control space as well as an alternative travel guide to Holland. He is
currently working on a book on bottom-up city planning as an alternative way of developing the
northern part of Amsterdam. www.tijsvandenboomen.nl

Frans Boots works since 1996 at Bureau B+B Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture in
Amsterdam www.bplusb.nl. Since 2009 is he one of the directors at Bureau B+B. Frans his specialty is
the design and implementation from projects in public space like parks, inner-city areas and
architectural objects like bridges. Frans is also a guest professor at the Academy of Architecture in
Amsterdam.

Simon Franke is a writer, editor, publisher and organiser of publications, seminars and other media.
He is the founder of Trancity, that reflects on urban development and regeneration, with specific
interest in the connection between culture, architecture and planning with social issues. His books are
published in the SUN-Trancity imprint, a joint venture of SUN Architecture Publishers and Trancity.
Postwar-cities, diversity and gentrification are key-words in his 2010-2011 projects.

Lotte Haagsma is an art historian and publicist who writes about architecture and art, with as unifying
theme contemporary urban life and where it all comes together: the public domain. She has been an
editor with ArchiNed, the Dutch website on architecture, since 2003. For many years she was involved
with Tubelight, a voluntary review paper on contemporary art. In addition, she writes regularly for
Metropolis M, the Dutch magazine on contemporary art, and for various clients in the worlds of art and
architecture.

Since 2006 Lene ter Haar works as contemporary art curator at Schunck Glaspaleis, Heerlen, and
Museum Het Domein, Sittard (until 2008). Since 2001 Ter Haar has been running art space B32,
situated in a Maastricht squat and financially supported by the City of Maastricht. Her curatorial
background is formed by DIY-mentality and institutionalism, urban culture and modernism. Regular
contributor to catalogs and art magazines, Ter Haar is part of the advisory commission of the
Mondriaan Foundation, local organizations and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design
and Architecture (Fund BKVB; until spring 2010).

Frank Havermans builds low-tech architectural installations -KAPKAR- that may or may not be
functional. Using simple, relatively cheap and universally available sheet material and simple tools like
a hand-held circular saw and a battery screwdriver, he creates, in a liberating, stimulating way -
without any intervention by contractors or engineers - specially designed spatial constructions, in
which material properties are used in a structural way. He doesn't make any distinction between
autonomous or applied design assignments. Next to KAPKAR projects Havermans has developed
TOFUD (Temporary Office for Urban Development). The models that are produced under TOFUD
authority can be regarded as thinking models, designed to stimulate reflection about specific urban
spaces.
Ellen Holleman works as a designer on a variety of projects in the field of urban planning. She is
founding partner of an urban design studio in the Amsterdam area, Islant, who designs flexible
strategies for urban renewal thus contributing to sustainable and high-quality city life. The design of
public space plays a key role in those projects. The working methods we use are based on the idea of
place making. We take a place into account in many different ways, because its use depends on as
many different people and meanings. By investigating the culture of a place, its stories and its people,
the strategy for a place becomes a logical outcome of a process.

Lada Hršak is Croatian-Dutch architect based in Amsterdam. After graduating at the Berlage Institute
she works both as practicing architect and educator. In her practice she deals with issues of
contemporary identity, place, scale and materiality. Her work realised for architect’s duo Van Gameren
& Mastenbroek is project for the Dutch Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Currently she collaborates
with wider network of professionals, most frequently with Dutch architect Daniëlle Huls. With her she
co-authored several prize-winning competitions as for example “Limes” development strategies or
NAC Oostvaardersplassen.

Michiel van Iersel is an urbanist, curator and co-founder of Non-fiction, an office for cultural, urban
and technological innovation, developing cutting-edge ideas and activities. Based in Amsterdam, he
works for and with cities, museums, libraries, concert halls, archives, schools, galleries, foundations,
NGOs, media, some good companies, and even one medieval castle.. Check: non-fiction.nl. Besides,
Michiel is artistic director of De Verdieping. This temporary, open source, project space occupies the
vast concrete basement of the Trouw-building, the former printing facility of four of the countries
biggest newspapers and now home to the most Berlin-like restaurant and club in town called
TrouwAmsterdam. Check: www.trouwamsterdam.nl/en/de-verdieping

Dieuwertje Komen is a photographer who lives and works in Rotterdam. She photographs common
and unnoticed phenomena in the contemporary urban landscape. Focusing on the materiality, light,
human presence, and voids found in the built environment, she attempts to uncover an ideal concept
that underlies the planning of urban landscapes. Her work has been exhibited and presented
throughout the Netherlands, in France, and in Shanghai. She is involved in the Dutch, Rotterdam
based artist initiative: www.hetwildeweten.nl, and she is a co-founder of the Dutch contemporary
photography foundation: www.fw-photography.nl

Robert-Jan de Kort graduated as an architect from the Delft University of Technology in 2006. In
January 2008 he won first prize in the international architecture competition Europan 9 (site Almere,
together with Sander van Schaik and XML) and started his independent practice RDKA in July 2008.
In addition to designing Robert-Jan writes critiques for various media - reflecting on architecture,
urbanism and cultural issues - such as Archined, AWM, Scape and S&RO. His office is currently
involved in design and research projects varying in scale from interior design to urban planning.

Sabrina Lindemann has lived and worked in the Netherlands since 1991. After her graphic design
studies in Kiel, Germany, a student-exchange scheme took her to The Hague, where she studied free
graphic arts and painting at the Royal Academy of Arts (1991-1992) and subsequently, from 1992-
1994 she attended the Second Phase Autonomous Design. As an artist she is working in the realm of
social politics. She set up OpTrek mobile project office in 2002, a temporary non –profit organisation in
The Hague’s urban renewal district Transvaal. With her projects she researches on the role of public
art within urban transformation. Recently she developed Hotel Transvaal with rooms in abandoned
houses and set up the urban thinktank Laboratory of the Interim.
Tilmann Meyer-Faje studied audiovisual art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and fine arts at Sandberg
Institute. He consciously blurs fiction and reality. Often he performs in his own installations and his
public becomes part of the performance as well. Some important projects are: “Universität
Ulrichsberg” a one man university in a village, installation and performance, Festival der Regionen,
Ulrichsberg, Austria 2005.“Buurtkroket”, mobile snackbar serving croquettes in the neighbourhood,
Museum de Paviljoens, Almere Netherlands 2007. “Corporate design de luxe”, interior design for
mental hospital, Doetinchem, Netherlands 2010.

Jan Rothuizen concluded at an early age he was a better artist wandering streets of cities instead of
working in the confinement of a studio. Since he exhibited internationally and published several books
and websites. He describes his way of working as a form of echolocation. His presence has an impact
on the environment, but the surroundings change him as well. In 1999 he published ‘On A Clear Day
You can See Forever’ a book with drawings photos and texts on New York City. In 2004 he worked in
Guangzhou (Canton) China. In 2006 he spent time in Cairo Egypt. In 2008 he exhibited works from
Cairo in the New Museum in New York City. In 2009 he published The soft Atlas of Amsterdam a
collection of hand drawn maps of the city he grew up in. Currently Jan Rothuizen works on drawn
reportages for the national daily newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’.

Wouter Sibum is an artist and curator with a focus on context related art. He graduated at the MFA
Public Art and New Artistic Strategies at the Bauhaus University Weimar (GER) in 2009. Most of his
works consist out of artistic interventions in public space with utility-objects like street-furniture,
questioning a mix of social relations and prefab aesthetics. He is the co-founder of the in 2005 initiated
MediumGallery, an artist run space in a social housing apartment in Groningen (NL). Currently he is
involved as a curator at HMK {Hotel MariaKapel}, an artist-in-residency in Hoorn (NL).

Su Tomesen is a visual artist who lives and works in Amsterdam. In 2007 she obtained her MA in Fine
Art at the Sandberg Institute. Her work consists of videos, photographs and installations. Her videos
and photographs, often dealing with situations in public space, are shot in the Netherlands, Japan,
Jordan, Egypt, Albania, Jordan, Cuba, China, South Africa and Brazil. Her installations evolve out of
the context of the location where the work is presented. The presence of and/or interaction with the
audience plays a role. In 2009 Su Tomesen did an artist-in-residence of three months at Makan House
in Amman, Jordan, supported by Fonds BKVB. BKVB also supported her work in Port-au-Prince, Rio
de Janeiro and Buenos Aires for the video project ‘City One Minutes’. Early 2010 she worked three
months at The Bag Factory in Johannesburg supported by the National Arts Council South Africa.
www.sutomesen.nl

Edwin Verdurmen has had several jobs in the field of urban development and architecture. He works
since 2003 as managing director – and co-founder - at CASA (Centre for Architecture & Urbanism
Arnhem). In 2009 he founded DTO (Department of Temporary Urban Developments). DTO organizes
projects in the so called transition-period together with architects, designers, artists and entrepreneurs.
For more information see: www.casa-arnhem.nl and www.dto.nu.

Neeltje ten Westenend works as an independent designer in the context of the public domain. She
studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven (2003) and has developed various projects including the
film ‘Perfect Day’ (2008) which arose from her research into high rise living. Central to her work is the
relationship people have with their environment and the role design plays in that. She is currently
working on the project ‘Drawn up in Line’, a study of cultural cartography. Parallel to this, she is part of
the NEL collaboration with two anthropologists. Their research concerns the experiencing and usage
of public spaces. Neeltje ten Westenend also teaches at the Design Academy Eindhoven.
Trained as a graphic designer, first at the Arnhem Academy of Art where he earned his bachelor's
degree, and then at Sint Joost Academy of Art where he earned his Master's - Maarten Verweij co-
founded the design studio 'Since 1416' where he has brought his talent for visual research to bear in
numerous projects situated in, inspired by, and/or related to public space. Public space, be it 2- or 3-
dimensional, is, after all, the designer's domain. He has been teaching for some years at the master
course Graphic Design at Sint Joost Academy of Art (The Netherlands) and executed several design
workshops in different cities in Holland and abroad - Nanjing (China), Chicago (USA), Lisbon
(Portugal) & Delhi (India).

Lex ter Braak is the director of the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture
(Fonds BKVB). He also contributes articles on art and literature to, among other publications, the
magazine Vrij Nederland.

Anne Hoogewoning is a design and architecture coordinator at the Netherlands Foundation for Visual
Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB). She received her training as an architectural historian at
the University of Amsterdam. In the past she worked at in the Collections and Exhibitions Department
of the Netherlands Architecture Institute and as a staff member of Europan Nederland. In addition she
has been active as a freelance researcher and pictorial editor. From 2000 – 2004 she was a member
of the editorial staff of Yearbook Architecture in the Netherlands.

Arnold Reijndorp studied architecture at TU Delft. He is an independent researcher and consultant at

the cutting edge of urbanism, social developments and cultural trends in the urban field. In recent
years he (co)authored books on In Search of New Public Domain, Urbanism and daily life, New Town
Almere, Atlas of the Western Garden Cities of Amsterdam and Theme Communities. He was lecturer
in Urban Sociology at the University of Amsterdam and visiting professor of Urbanism and Urban
Sociology at the Faculty of Architecture TU Berlin. Since January 2006 he holds the Han Lammers
Chair of Social-economic and Spatial Developments of New Urban Areas at the University of
Amsterdam and attached to the International New Town Institute at Almere. He is a member of the
VROM-raad, the advisory council of the Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the
Environment. He lives in Rotterdam.

Bert Oostdijk is a student of urban design at the TU Delft. Before that he studied urban planning at
the University of Amsterdam, were he wrote his thesis comparing urban acupuncture interventions
across Europe. Worked on a cultural research project in Almere Buiten with Stichting Bombarie and as
an editor of the online architecture encyclopedia Archipedia.