One of the themes that came forth during the RTM selection was the rapid urban development of Rotterdam, its following gentrification and its human collateral for profit. An anticipatory grief is wrapping itself around the city where largely working class and migrant neighbourhoods are being sacrificed, and communities are being displaced. As makers, our reflex is to reach for our lenses and document these communities for posterity. They were here. I was here. But what comes after?
We are at a crossroads, instead of enduring these imposed changes and displacements. What if we used our lenses to speculate otherwise? Why is the realm of imagination of such importance within resistance? Let us speculate on a city otherwise. The city in our collective image. Through the speculative lenses of speakers Tarona, Geo Barcan (Surge of Transference, 2024) and Bouba Dola, we will perhaps open a path to do otherwise locally.
