Building on the success of the first dinner, we decided to go back to the Contemporary Food Lab with another group of practitioners to further the debate. Maintaining the format of the placemat-survey, in which guests were asked to write responses to questions printed on their placemats, we attempted to develop the discussion with insights from the whole year in mind.
In June and October 2015, Making Spaces -back then named L’Espace Feminin- hosted Discussion Dinners aimed at stimulating conversation around the subject of women in spatial practices. We invited a selection of guests whose work, research or interests paralleled those of the project. The first dinner took place during Make City Festival and thus we benefited from the multitude of international interesting guests who were in Berlin at that time. The exchange of ideas between guests was predicated on the belief that all those who attended the dinner had interesting contributions to make to the discussion. We invited architects, urbanists, academics, and more, hoping to accumulate expertise to fuel a well-informed discussion. By inviting these people, we also hoped to encourage the growth of a network. The exchange of business cards and discussion of current projects was an exciting premonition of great work to be done in the future, we hope.
Both dinners were held at the Contemporary Food Lab on Bergstraße. The space is used to “host innovative and experimental event concepts in form of dinners”. The opportunity to discuss issues of gender in the professional sphere or architecture and urban design led to strong, engaged discussion between guests. After the first event, it was clear that the discussion ought to continue and with the October dinner new voices were heard around the table.
Like in the first dinner in June, in order to prompt engaged debate, guests were asked to respond to a set of questions printed on their placemats. In October, we adapted the questions according to the progression of the concept and the deeper insights that we had by that time.
Here are the questions we posed to our guests. With hindsight they could have been phrased or positioned differently, but it is only with reflection on the discussions of the evening that we can appreciate that, and therein lies the beauty of this self-reflexive event. It is possible to trace the development of the questions from the first dinner to the second, right?
PLACEMAT QUESTIONS:
1. Despite the exponential growth of female students in universities, both in Europe and internationally, women continue to be a minority in the field of architecture and spatial practices. Why are women less visible than men?
2. If we want to build a network of women spatial practitioners - how can we find other modes of connecting without subscribing to a neoliberal concept of recognition?
3. What would a non-sexist city be like? How could we create a city that was open for all?
4. Which female figure has inspired you? Why?
1. Despite the exponential growth of female students in universities, both in Europe and internationally, women continue to be a minority in the field of architecture and spatial practices. Why are women less visible than men?
2. If we want to build a network of women spatial practitioners - how can we find other modes of connecting without subscribing to a neoliberal concept of recognition?
3. What would a non-sexist city be like? How could we create a city that was open for all?
4. Which female figure has inspired you? Why?
PARTICIPANTS:
Fee Kyriakopoulos, Merril Sineus, Joanne Pouzenc, Gilly Karjevsky, Marie Alleaume, Elke Krasny, Sandra Bartoli, Elena Schutz, Emily Kelling, Johanna Meyer-Grohbruegge, Susanne Lachmayer, Mary Scherpe, Jean Pascal Flavien, Valerie Chartrain, Christina Landbrecht, Rosario Talevi, Katharina Beckmann, Stefanie Gerke, Nele Heinevetter and Miriam Stoney.
Fee Kyriakopoulos, Merril Sineus, Joanne Pouzenc, Gilly Karjevsky, Marie Alleaume, Elke Krasny, Sandra Bartoli, Elena Schutz, Emily Kelling, Johanna Meyer-Grohbruegge, Susanne Lachmayer, Mary Scherpe, Jean Pascal Flavien, Valerie Chartrain, Christina Landbrecht, Rosario Talevi, Katharina Beckmann, Stefanie Gerke, Nele Heinevetter and Miriam Stoney.