Public spaces
Public spaces

Re-signifying Public Spaces: The Streets as Sites of Resistance to Gender-Based Violence

This lab is part of an ongoing project on exploring gender-based violence in public space through co-creative methods in Mexico and the Netherlands. In collaboration with the UNESCO Chair Centre for Arts & Learning (UCAL),  Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades - BUAP and Studio MONK.

    General

    Researching and Addressing Gender-Based Violence through Co-Creative and Socially Engaged Methods

    Cities are experienced in many diverse ways dependent on factors such as urban design, infrastructure, historical context, social and cultural dynamics as well as economic factors and the patterns of consumption. These in turn create urban rhythms of movement and even street lighting, noise, smells and visibility. The way all these elements are organized or disorganized generates imaginaries or narratives that condition our experience of the streets. This conditioning is intersectional as it relates to gender, race, class, sexuality, body ableness and is thus fundamentally intersectional. Strategies like active use of spaces, or collective action can help to raise awareness, create transformative narratives and practices of resistance against this conditioning of gender-based violence. 

    For whom?

    Students from Radboud University, ArtEZ University of the Applied Arts and Hogeschool Arnhem Nijmegen (HAN) interested in studying the gendered dynamics of public spaces, and co-creative knowledge production

    What are you going to do?

    • Discuss literature on gender-based violence, public space and intersectionality.
    • Learn about embodiment as a way of relating and reflecting about space.
    • Produce counter cartographies collect data/knowledge about a territory.
    • Use narrative inquiry into the gendered dynamics of public space.
    • Co-design and participate in a creative public intervention.
    • Contribute to the documentation and reflection on the process of co-creative knowledge production in a digital publication.
       

    What will you learn?

    You will learn creative methods to analyze urban spaces from an intersectional perspective, allowing for a broader understanding of the differentiated experiences shaped by urban spaces. You will also gain knowledge on designing and researching a socially engaged intervention that amplifies other ways of re-signifying public spaces.

    Starting date

    To be announced
    15 April 2026
    Costs
    Free
    Main Language
    English
    Sessions
    15 April 2026, 6:30 pm - 9 pm
    22 April 2026, 6:30 pm - 9 pm
    06 May 2026, 6:30 pm - 9 pm
    13 May 2026, 6:30 pm - 9 pm
    20 May 2026, 6:30 pm - 9 pm
    26 May 2026, 6:30 pm - 9 pm
    27 May 2026, 6:30 pm - 9 pm

    Factsheet

    Type of education
    Course

    Contact information

    Do you want to know more about the Honours Labs? Please get in touch with the programme director: 

    Esther Fluijt
    honours [at] ru.nl (honours[at]ru[dot]nl)  

    Programme

    Wednesday 15 April 2026 (18.30 - 21.00)
    Setting a common ground
    What is public space? / How is my experience of it affected by intersectionality? (Tine and Elba)

    Wednesday 22 April 2026 (18.30 - 21.00)
    Your body in relation to the space
    Embodiment and walking exercise (Debora)

    Wednesday 6 May 2026 (18.30 - 21.00)
    Flâneuse/ Flâneur
    Counter-mapping while wandering (Elba)

    Wednesday 13 May 2026 (18.30 - 21.00)
    Narrative inquiry into urban experiences of the city
    Creative collection of stories (Marloes and Tine)

    Wednesday 20 May 2026 (18.30 - 21.00)
    Co-creation lab
    Participatory intervention design (Everybody)

    Tuesday 26 May 2026 (18.30 - 21.00)
    Participatory intervention design (Everybody)
    (Everybody)

    Wednesday 27 May 2026 (18.30 - 21.00)
    Collecting experiences, critical reflection and writing
    Focus group with workshop participants (Everybody)

    Teachers

    Tine Davids: is an Assistant Professor at Radboud University. Her research focuses on gender, feminist ethnography, migration in Mexico, and arts-based research methods (Dr. T. Davids (Tine) | Radboud Universiteit).

    Elba Cervantes: Artist and researcher from Mexico, bridging visual arts, feminist theory, and social research. Currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology on feminist activism and collaborative art practices (ICSyH- BUAP)

    Marloes Verhoeven: is a visual artist (www.mareveen.nl) and a senior researcher at the UNESCO Lectorate at ArtEZ University of the Arts (https://www.artez.nl/en/unesco-chair-in-issues-based-arts-education-at-artez).

    Debora Heijne: Artist educator & dance maker at Studio MONK | head lecturer cultural entrepreneurship at Fontys Academy of the Arts.