WELCOME TO AMAGER

You are in the city. The sound of traffic, asphalt, people on their way to work, kids talking, to their busy parents rushing through the city on their bikes. You just arrived to Amager, disoriented. Head towards the water, the seagulls, the salty waters, the sand. Head East. Soon you will encounter the water… at Kastrup Søbad.

KASTRUP SØBAD

Kastrup Søbad is a harbour bath at the west coast of Amager. Situated off-shore in the Øresund Sound, it has great views of the Saltholm island, Øresundsbroen and Sweden. Kastrup Søbad is shaped like a circle with an outer screen, providing a pleasant shelter for the swimmers – and performers alike.

Kastrup Søbad, designed by the Swedish Architects Whyte (2004-2005), is situated in Kastrup Strandpark with the recreational larger urban beach area Amager Strandpark to the north and the National Aquarium Denmark to the south. Amager Strandpark was founded in 1934, but in 2005 a 2 km long artificial island was added creating 5 km of beaches, a lagoon for surfing, swimming and kayaking, paths for cycling and running, and promenades for strolling.

The beach area is part of the urban development of Amager. The City of Copenhagen has been working on the possibility of creating a wider beach park with a greater depth of water offshore ever since the mid-'70s. In 1988, thanks to local efforts, a proposal to extend the beach park, - the so-called Riviera Plan was realized.

In compliance with other contemporary, urban trends such as sustainability, recreational life and human scaled architecture Amager Strandpark was designed as a recreational area in the city. The Amager Strandpark has resulted in an increase in living standards, but also rising housing investment and gentrification of Amager West.

HAPPENING AT KASTRUPS SØBAD

Fluid sounds conference Statement and welcome by Sanne Krogh Groth and Kristine Samson

Keynote lecture by Professor Holger Schulze: Idiosyncrasy as Method: Reflections on the epistemic continuum.

URBANPLANEN

Urbanplanen is Copenhagen’s largest car-free neighbourhood. It has 2500 homes and around 5400 citizens. It was built as a residential area between 1966 and 1997. Today the area has an old farmhouse, cozy kitchen gardens, new courtyards, playgrounds, a library, a church and an activity centre.

The buildings consist of social housing in several five-storey housing blocks and two eight-storey apartment buildings, as well as smaller row houses. The decision to construct Urbanplanen came from then-mayor Urban Hansen (1908-1986). He was elected in 1962 on a pledge to build 25,000 more housing units in the municipality. The goal was to address the increasing lack of public housing.

As with most public housing of that era, there was little diversity in tenants, and the buildings were left to decay. When the Ørestad plan was devised in the 90’s, Urbanplanen was thrust into the spotlight. Decay, ghettoization and crime in the area have recently been discussed. Especially Solvangcentret (a small shopping mall) has been a contested site. Despite many efforts to restore the place, among others cultural projects such as SOUP, Solvangcentret will be demolished in June 2015. The fence around the demolition site will serve as a screen for local art and culture production.

HAPPENING IN URBANPLANEN

Keynote lecture by Brandon LaBelle: “On the productions of a poor acoustics. “

URBANPLANTEN Urbanplanten (the Urban Plant) is an urban garden and farm set in the concrete environment of Urbanplanen. It offers residents a green area, playgrounds for children, a farm with farm animals (pigs, chickens, goats, horses) and a larger maker-space. Urbanplanten is an environmentally friendly learning center for urban agriculture.

Urbanplanten wishes to inspire citizens and users to create a more sustainable city. Urbanplanten provides space, knowledge, and material for people to grow their own vegetables – and you can find everything green, from food composting to learning how to create life for honeybees and other insects that pollinate plants and flowers. In the outdoor maker space, “Byggeren”, children and adults can build their own environments and houses and use the outdoor facilities for community kitchen.

HAPPENING IN URBANPLANTEN

Jeremy Woodruff: “Green Interactive Biofeedback Environments. Installation and presentation by the artist.”

Lunch for participants in Fluid Sounds and Fluid States North

KØBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET AMAGER

From Urbanplanen there is a 25 minutes walk to Københavns Universitet Amager, KUA (University of Copenhagen) passing Jean Nouvel’s concert hall, DR (the Danish Broadcasting Coorporation), IT-Universitetet (IT University of Copenhagen) and Tietgen Kollegiet – a student residence.

All these institutions establish a new urban centre for culture, media and communication technology on Amager and was part of the Ørestaden urban development in the 90’es. Ørestaden North has Københavns Universitet Amager as its front figure. The architectural axis ends in Ørestaden South with the housing complex 8-tallet by world known Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). In-between we find VM-husene and VM-Bjerget, also by BIG. The Ørestaden axis is spatially and visually present, with the Metro and a canal as infrastructure and recreational space.

The area has been awarded worldwide for its architecture, but has also been heavily criticized for repeating modernist planning failures – as for instance known from the development of Urbanplanen.

HAPPENING AT KØBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET

Keynote session Telematic Encounters with Sarah Bay-Cheng, Elizabeth Jochum, Peter Eckersall and Bree Hadley.

REFSHALEØEN AND TEATERØEN

You venture into the terrain vague of Refshaleøen… Listen to the industrial noise… is it echoes of the former industrial complex B&W producing motors for the shipping industry? – or is it the hard metal sounds of the festival Copenhell.?

Refshaleøen is the old industrial site for the wharf Burmeister and Wain producing diesel motors. The wharf was active from the 1859 to the closing of the industry in 1996. In the last 20 years, the Refshaleøen has changed radically – from industrial labour to immaterial labour. Today we find an event island where industrial workers are replaced by creative people, artists, musicians, food industries etc., and is the place where urban festivals such as Distortion, Copenhell and Uhørt takes place during the summer.

At the northern tip of Refshaleøen, you will find Teaterøen (The Theatre Island). Set at the outskirts of urban culture, Teaterøen has a strong focus on avant-garde theatre and performance art.

On the way to Refhaleøen you will pass another autonomous area – the squatted freetown Christiania situated in the old military barracks of Christianshavn. Rafshaleøen consists of borders and fluid states in between high and popular culture, the autonomous law of squatters and public law, alternative economies and event economy.

HAPPENING AT TEATERØEN

Immersive performance by Heaven: music4giants: prelude Evening reception in the terrain vague of the island for participants in Fluid Sounds and Fluid States North.