After Summer School 2026

After Summer School returns!
About this Event

Ticket sale for indivisual events starts on Thursday 27 August at 5pm.

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From 23 to 26 September, Rotterdam transforms into a classroom where a wide variety of makers, researchers and other knowledge producers share their ways of working. By looking, listening, archiving, collaborating, activating, researching, designing and walking differently, you get to work with the urban knowledge and expertise that can change the city. The full programme is now online — have a look at the daily schedules and put together your own programme by booking individual classes.

This year's contributors include (A)WAKE & Islam Shabana, Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie, Buitenplaats Brienenoord, Convivium, Emer Beamer, Huis van de Toekomst, Independent School for the City, In-Depth-Space, Janilda Bartolomeu, Karin Christof, Loom, Niels Spaans & Bibliotheek Rotterdam, OMI Rotterdam, One Planet Port, Pauluskerk, Queer Gym, Sean Nelissen & Willemijn Lofvers, Sound Office, Stadspark West, Stine Jensen, Varia, Verhalenhuis Belvédère, Vers Beton x WARM Rotterdam, and WORKNOT! & COOPIA.
Together they explore the potential of a city-based Curriculum for Change. After Summer School comprises a series of classes, talks, workshops, and encounters that showcase and explore a multi-facetted, plural, inclusive and post-disciplinary approach to the city. Classes will take place in various locations across the city, including community centres, gardens, gyms, libraries, streets, public squares, bunkers and islands.

A Culture of Peace

This edition of the After Summer School coincides with Peace Week, an annual nationwide event organised by PAX that promotes social inclusion, active community involvement and dialogue. As with previous editions, the focus is on the qualities that foster peaceful coexistence, such as empathy, curiosity, imagination, listening, resistance and resilience.

Programme 2026

Take a look at the full programme by scrolling through the agenda on Eventbrite or by visiting one of the following pages on our website:

• General Overview
• Wednesday, 23 September
• Thursday, 24 September
• Friday, 25 September
• Saturday, 26 September

View the timetable and a map showing all the venues. For links to the exact locations, please refer to our website.

Additional Links

Get your tickets to join People’s Kitchen of Peace and Resistance on Wednesday 23 September on the website of Verhalenhuis Belvédère.

If you have any questions regarding the programme, please contact Ania Molenda ([email protected]). If you would like to request a free solidarity ticket for financial reasons, you can contact us through Laura Lakam ([email protected]).

Wednesday, 23 September

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Opening of the Non-Academic Year
Host: Gemaal op Zuid

Info: Interactive lecture by Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie. Location: Gemaal op Zuid. Language: Dutch --- Re-Position is a collaboration between the Afrikaanderwijk Coöperatie’s Cooperative Consultancy Office and Erasmus University that explores the relationship between the university and the city. During the previous edition of the After Summer School, the collective presented the Rotterdam-Zuid Lecture. This year, with your help, they are launching the Non-Academic Year, an alternative approach to the regular academic year featuring a Rotterdam Knowledge Co-op. This growing collective of urban initiatives is working to organise research and knowledge sharing in a radically egalitarian way. What does the Non-Academic Year entail, what impact will it have on the city, and how can you contribute? The programme concludes with a communal lunch.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Homeless in Rotterdam
Host: Pauluskerk

Info: City walk by Pauluskerk. Location: starts at the Erasmus Bridge (picknick tables in front of Remastered). Language: Dutch --- Homelessness is about more than statistics and newspaper articles. Behind the numbers are real people, each with their own story. A group of people who have experienced homelessness will guide you through the streets of Rotterdam. They’ll share their experiences of becoming homeless, living on the streets and trying to rebuild their lives. This walking tour offers insights into the human side of homelessness, inviting you to view the city and all its residents with greater understanding. The walk concludes at the Pauluskerk with a discussion. All proceeds will support the work of the Pauluskerk.

🕑: 01:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Another Island: The Art of Letting Go
Host: Janilda Bartolomeu

Info: Workshop by Janilda Bartolomeu. Location: Het Veerhuis. Language: English --- What does it mean to be both a good ancestor and a good descendant? What time capsule for the future would you like to bury today? Drawing on the Cape Verdean Creole philosophy of time explored in the exhibition Another Island, this workshop will examine the casket, the capsule and other containers as ways of communicating across time. You will release an object, idea, law, story, wisdom or folly from the past, so that you may encounter it differently in the future. Together, we’ll reflect on this conscious act and consider how letting go can bring relief. Bring your own objects or ideas.

🕑: 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
How to Build a Culture of Peace
Host: Rosi Braidotti

Info: Lecture by Rosi Braidotti. Location: Verhalenhuis Belvédère. Language: English --- Peace is much more than the absence of war, although an end to all wars is certainly one of its requirements. We have stumbled into a kind of war economy characterised by a state of general emergency and a social climate of fear and constant alarm. It is as if war exists not only in the material world, but also in our minds and hearts. A peace economy requires a shift in our mindset: the demilitarisation of our thoughts and feelings. How do we deal with the constant stream of bad news, and where do we find the strength to foster solidarity? Join us in exploring how we can resist polarisation, elitism, racism, sexism and ‘us versus them’ thinking.

🕑: 06:00 PM - 10:00 PM
People’s Kitchen of Peace and Resistance
Host: Verhalenhuis Belvédère

Info: Storytelling dinner by Verhalenhuis Belvédère. Location: Verhalenhuis Belvédère. Language: Dutch --- Tickets for this event are sold separately through Verhalenhuis Belvédère (see 'Additional Links') --- The best stories are shared over a meal at the table. Join us on Thursday evening at Verhalenhuis Belvédère, where you can share your personal stories about peace and resistance, as well as hearing from guests: journalist Nico Haasbroek, film maker Rosh Abelfatah, poets Edwin de Voigt and Manuel Kneepkens and singer Maryana Golovchenko. The focus will be on coming together, listening to one another, exchanging ideas and enjoying a meal together. Guest chef Anahid Darwish (Rotterdam/Syria) will prepare a three-course meal to bring the evening together. This creates space for connection and conversation about what peace and resistance can mean today.

Thursday, 24 September

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Dissenting Decisions
Host: Varia

Info: Role-playing game by Varia. Location: Varia. Language: English --- A fictional collective of cultural workers attempts to make decisions. But how do you actually do that as a group? By playing Dissenting Decisions, a game developed by amy pickles, you will discover how our social dynamics and interactions influence and shape one another. Take on the roles of various characters, each with their own social influence and attitude, and experience a range of chance cards and situations that impact your communication and the outcome for the group. What can these outcomes tell us about practices surrounding self-organisation and collective action? The programme concludes with a communal lunch.

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Thinking with the Ocean
Host: In-Depth-Space

Info: Workshop by In-Depth-Space. Location: In-Depth-Space. Language: English --- What if you could dive into the deeper history of the port of Rotterdam – exploring both the human and non-human dimension, and the present and the distant past? During this workshop with Di Fang (In-Depth-Space), you will experiment with role-playing and collective world-building. Using archive maps, historical material and the concept of ‘oceanic thinking’, you will learn to adopt a non-linear, post-human perspective and move beyond rigid frameworks towards archaeological and ecological viewpoints. No prior knowledge is required, just a sense of curiosity and a willingness to think differently.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Hidden Stories
Host: Rotterdam Library

Info: Workshop by Niels Spaans & Rotterdam Library. Location: Rotterdam Central Library. Language: Dutch --- The city is full of stories hidden away in private collections belonging not only to individuals, but also to families and entire neighbourhoods. Over the years, we all collect meaningful items and memories, both consciously and unconsciously. These personal collections can enrich existing (city) archives. In this workshop, you will connect your own collection to the wider story of Rotterdam by exploring the Atlas van Stolk, a heritage collection comprising prints, photographs and posters. Working alongside Niels Spaans and the Rotterdam Library, you will link your stories to historical collections and explore how new connections emerge between people, times and places. You're encouraged to bring an object or story from your own collection.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Mapping (a Piece of) Earth
Host: Buitenplaats Brienenoord

Info: Workshop by Buitenplaats Brienenoord. Location: Buitenplaats Brienenoord. Language: English / Dutch --- Philosopher Bruno Latour argued that, in order to act in the interests of a liveable future, we must first thoroughly map all the beings that inhabit the Earth. This idea serves as the starting point for mapping the ecosystem of the Island of Brienenoord during this workshop. By physically exploring the island and using various techniques to document our findings, we will ultimately create an associative and artistic representation, rather than a traditional map. This workshop forms part of an ongoing research project, in which a group of artists map the island every week. How might this alternative approach to mapping help us move towards a liveable future?

🕑: 03:30 PM - 05:30 PM
Architectures of Safety: The Bunker in the Time of the Emergency Kit
Host: OMI

Info: Workshop by OMI. Location: starts at OMI. Language: English --- Join visual artist Kees van Leeuwen, who is fascinated by nuclear bunkers, for a descent into a Rotterdam bomb shelter. In this workshop, we will learn from the bunker structure — a radical architectural response to fear — by exploring it spatially and sensorially. How does fear influence the way we shape the future? While bunkers provided collective protection during the Cold War, today’s crisis response increasingly focuses on individual self-reliance. How can community and solidarity offer an alternative to rising individualism when dealing with uncertainty?

🕑: 03:30 PM - 05:30 PM
WARM Beton: Examining Poverty Policy
Host: WARM Beton

Info: Conversation by Vers Beton & WARM Rotterdam. Location: Post West. Language: Dutch --- Before and after the municipal elections, the online magazine Vers Beton collaborated with WARM Rotterdam — the organisation representing 90,000 Rotterdammers living in poverty — in a community journalism experiment. Experts by experience shared their insights and knowledge, actively contributing to research and publications. Now that a new municipal executive has taken office, we reflect on the past and look to the future with journalist Saskia Klaassen and other experts. How does the new policy measure up against the ‘WARM Rotterdam benchmark?’ And what is needed to raise poverty’s profile on the political agenda?

🕑: 06:00 PM - 08:30 PM
Retreat in Stadspark West
Host: Stadspark West

Info: Walk by Stadspark West. Location: Volkstuinvereniging Tot Nut en Genoegen. Language: English / Dutch --- You don’t have to leave the city to experience the healing power of nature. As you seek tranquillity and wander through Stadspark West — an ‘unofficial park’ of contiguous green spaces in the west of the city — you’ll discover ways to develop a more optimistic outlook on what already exists. Inspired by Donna Haraway’s relational philosophy, Anne Karin ten Bosch encourages us to pause, share thoughts and feelings, and connect with others. By bringing together people of different ages and backgrounds, you’ll discover new connections with one another, the city and nature.

Friday, 25 September

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Regenerative Urban Foodscapes #2
Host: Convivium

Info: Workshop by Convivium. Location: Mensa Mensa. Language: English --- Food gardens, community kitchens and other local initiatives are ideal places for alternative food systems to emerge, and they are becoming increasingly common in Rotterdam. Yet while there are many innovative initiatives that could support and strengthen one another, how do they find each other? In this hands-on workshop, a follow-up to last year’s class of the same name, we will explore how local initiatives can collaborate to create a regenerative urban food landscape. We test and refine techniques for collaboration and support, and discover how to learn together, share resources and grow. The workshop is hosted by Pia Canales, Justyna Jakubiec, Kevin Lai as part of the of the Convivium project and concludes with a group lunch.

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Philosophical Dialogue: How to Build Peace?
Host: Sean Nelissen

Info: Workshop by Sean Nelissen & Willemijn Lofvers. Location: Volkstuinvereniging SNV. Language: English/Dutch --- A state of peace cannot be taken for granted, especially in times of polarisation and crumbling trust in institutions, politics and other people. Achieving peace can be a deeply practical matter — after all, it requires people to think together, even when they disagree. In this workshop, philosopher Sean Nelissen will teach us a conversational format in which questions are taken seriously and conclusions are not predetermined. We can apply the insights gained about listening differently, making joint decisions and getting organised to our work, conversations and other aspects of daily life. Whether you’re an experienced thinker or simply curious: join us in thinking, talking and listening.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
Fables of the Reconstruction
Host: Independent School for the City

Info: Interactive lecture by Independent School for the City. Location: Independent School for the City. Language: English --- The reconstruction of cities following a war or disaster involves more than just replacing buildings and infrastructure. It calls for decisions about identity, collective memory and a vision of how the city should look. Reconstruction is therefore as much a reflection of power, culture and history as it is of physical design. Every rebuilt city tells a story shaped by political choices and social values concerning ethnicity, heritage and community. In this lecture, Wouter Vanstiphout and Simone Rots will share their insights on this topic from the Independent School for the City.

🕑: 02:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Who Owns the City?
Host: Karin Christof

Info: Conversation by Karin Christof and guests. Location: C3 Studios. Language: English/Dutch --- At C3 Studios, an artists' studio complex in Charlois, you will take part in a discussion about ownership in a city that is increasingly being left to market forces. The space itself will serve as both a starting point and a subject of negotiation. Who controls the complex, and for how long? What would the city look like if collectively managed spaces were more widely accessible? Exchanging knowledge helps to forge alliances and strengthen networks. Alongside Karin Christof and experts Kamiel Verschuren, Roel Griffioen, Jon Wakeman and Karen Watson, you will examine best practices from elsewhere and learn about the current state of affairs in Rotterdam.

🕑: 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thriving within Planetary Boundaries
Host: One Planet Port

Info: Interactive lecture by One Planet Port. Location: IABR / De Piekfabriek. Language: English (with Dutch translations) --- The port of Rotterdam is one of Europe’s major gateways. But how can it adapt to remain within the ‘nine planetary boundaries’ framework, which is designed to keep the Earth habitable? One Planet Port is an organisation dedicated to this cause. It demonstrates the steps that can be taken to transform and make ports more sustainable. Join the conversation with One Planet Port’s researchers, scientists and policymakers and discover what the planetary boundaries mean in practice. For anyone interested in ports, the planet, sustainability and systemic change.

🕑: 05:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Swarm School
Host: Loom

Info: Conversation by Loom. Location: TENT. Language: English --- In recent years, a growing number of self-organised, collective or institution-transcending initiatives have emerged that position themselves somewhere between art and architecture. These initiatives offer an alternative to traditional structures and teaching methods. How can these initiatives learn from one another and collaborate on cultural transformation? This lesson starts with the ‘swarm intellect’, or thinking like a flock of birds in flight: a decentralised, self-organising system for movement and change. How can we organise ourselves like a flock of birds? For anyone engaged in, or curious about, alternative forms of learning and collaboration. The programme concludes with a communal meal.

🕑: 05:00 PM - 07:30 PM
Listening to the City
Host: Sound Office

Info: Workshop by Sound Office. Location: Time is the new space. Language: English --- In Rotterdam, a pilot programme is running that uses sound cameras to monitor noisy vehicles. The cameras have been installed at Haagseveer, Strevelsweg, Maasboulevard and Laan op Zuid. But what exactly are they recording? During this workshop, Colette Aliman (Sound Office) will guide us through deep listening and specific exercises, introducing us to the concept of quantum listening. Together, we will visit one of the sound cameras in Rotterdam, calling into a radio show to share our quantum listening experiences from that location and reflecting on previous sound recordings that Colette has already collected at these sites. What can these sounds tell us about the city?

🕑: 08:00 PM - 09:30 PM
Boxing Against the Binary
Host: Queer Gym

Info: Training by Queer Gym. Location: Queer Gym Zuid. Language: Dutch --- Boxing, known as an aggressive combat sport that pushes the physical and mental limits of both yourself and your opponent, is mainly focused on masculine bodies and energy. At Queer Gym, the first gym in the Netherlands dedicated to the queer community, you’ll build strength and take control of your life. You’ll learn – in addition to the basic movements and improving your fitness, of course – how to set boundaries and decide for yourself whether to push them or not. What norms are associated with a sport like boxing, and how to break through them? Expect movement and challenges at your own pace, interaction with other participants within the boundaries you set for yourself, but above all, coordination, explosive energy and fun!

Saturday, 26 September

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
The Human-Powered House
Host: Huis van de Toekomst

Info: Workshop by Huis van de Toekomst. Location: Huis van de Toekomst. Language: English/Dutch --- Step inside the Human-Powered House, an experimental home that runs entirely on human energy. Here, cooking, washing and other daily activities are performed using simple, homemade tools and without the use of external energy sources. The functions of a single household are shared within the residential block, with resources and responsibility being borne jointly. During this workshop, initiators Melle Smets and Studio C.A.R.E. will give you a tour of the house and lead a workshop. Together, you will design concepts for low-tech household appliances and test existing prototypes. Whatever your level of experience, come along to think and build. The programme concludes with a communal lunch.

🕑: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Voicing Earth
Host: Buitenplaats Brienenoord

Info: Workshop by Buitenplaats Brienenoord. Location: Buitenplaats Brienenoord. Language: English/Dutch --- Collaborating with the more-than-human fellow residents of Rotterdam can be challenging. As a human, how do you give a voice to non-humans? Which stories do you choose, and how to tell them? During this workshop at Buitenplaats Brienenoord, you will explore new forms of storytelling using puppets from Puppetry Library and instruments from the Island Orchestra. The puppets represent a growing collection of characters and perspectives, combined with instruments made from materials found on the island itself. Play, sound, and imagination form the starting point from which, step by step, an alternative story emerges about a piece of the Earth on the Island of Brienenoord. The programme concludes with a communal lunch.

🕑: 01:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Collaboration Begins with a New Perspective
Host: Emer Beamer

Info: Workshop by Emer Beamer. Location: Het Wijkpaleis. Language: Dutch --- If children are the future, how to work with them now to shape it? Above all, this requires adults to start seeing young people from a different perspective. In this workshop, you learn to closely examine your own assumptions and beliefs, and then let them go. This will enable you to discover how our perceptions of children, young people and adulthood influence the way we collaborate and make decisions. Alongside social designer Emer Beamer, you explore ways to collaborate with young city residents through creative, design-oriented exercises.

🕑: 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Freedom, Solidarity and Resistance
Host: Verhalenhuis Belvédère

Info: Story lecture by Verhalenhuis Belvédère. Location: Verhalendepot Belvédère (at Fenix). Language: Dutch --- The power of imagination in art can teach us a great deal about the meaning and potential of peace and resistance. During this storytelling lecture at Verhalendepot Belvédère, you will meet two visual artists and activists whose works share the common thread of the themes of freedom, peace, oppression, resistance and solidarity. Juan Heinsohn fled Chile for the Netherlands as a young artist in the 1970s, while Mohand Abbtoy uses his art, poetry, music and cartoons to draw attention to his native region of Al Hoceima (Biya) in Morocco, where oppression and resistance are still palpable. The conversation will start with their stories and address their motivations, what we can learn from each other, and peace and resistance.

🕑: 04:00 PM - 08:00 PM
(Anti-)Coloniality Walk
Host: WORKNOT!

Info: Walk by WORKNOT! & COOPIA. Location: WORKNOT!. Language: English --- In what ways are the traces of colonialism visible in the city’s spatial design? This anticoloniality walking tour of Rotterdam exposes the colonial past in our familiar streets. Together with COOPIA and WORKNOT!, you will explore the relevant concepts as you tour the city. Through fieldwork, practical writing tasks and physical exercises, you learn to view the city differently at various scales, from the smallest details to the macro level. In doing so, you will uncover the hidden colonial presence and trace collective solidarity. The programme concludes with a shared meal.

🕑: 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Practicing Metaphysical Protection
Host: (A)WAKE

Info: Workshop door (A)WAKE & Islam Shabana. Location: moezeum. Language: English --- Traditions and customs can disappear due to taboos, convenience or practical considerations. But perhaps we can breathe new life into them by adding an artistic twist. During this workshop, artist Islam Shabana will expand on his Talsam project (‘talsam’ is Arabic for talisman, an object with magical powers). In it, he combines ancient Arabic talismanic traditions with modern technology. Using various chips, you will build your own occult device that is controlled by the position of the planets, the rhythm of the tides and aircraft and drone traffic in the sky. By programming it yourself, your technological talisman becomes a contemporary protective object or security protocol – an ‘algorithmic incantation’ that can serve as an encryption tool, a shield for your privacy or an anti-surveillance weapon.