05/02/2024 to 19/02/2024 and 04/01/2025 to 21/01/2025
The aim for my secondment in Prague is to explore critical spatial practices that challenge contemporary urbanisation processes and support spatial justice through critique and imagination. The exploration of such practices is closely connected to my PhD research.
I decided to divide my secondment in two parts:
The first part aimed at understanding the Prague creative scene and mapping individuals, groups, institutions, spaces and practices that are connected to the aim of my research. The host institution’s network and suggestions were an important part in achieving this. During the first two weeks in Prague, I was able to follow several exhibitions and participate in different activities. For example, I visited the “Right to Housing” exhibition in Galerie Jaroslava Fragnera that examined a series of actions organised by different collectives in the city to claim the right to housing. I also had the chance to participate in a walking tour by the “Corrupt Tour” team that investigated different corruption cases that influenced urban development in the city.
The second part of my secondment (forthcoming) will revolve around contacting some of the identified groups and individuals to conduct semi-structured interviews. The interviews will revolve around the aims and processes behind the practices of these agents, their approaches and ways of working, the challenges they face and the potentials they see in developing their practices further.
Through this, the aim will be to understand the ecology of spatial practices taking place in the Prague scene, analyse some key examples that are relevant to my work, and use this knowledge to enrich and contextualise my own practice. In this way my hope is to gain a better understanding of how such spatial practices unfold and raise critical questions that could enable new paths for further exploration of how spatial practices can support spatial justice.