27 November 2002–15 January 2003 / Leidsche Rijn
Location: Vlinderbuurt, Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht
Maureen Mooren & Daniël van der Velden (designer-collective based in Amsterdam) have developed a project examining the potentialities of focused communication in a particular neighborhood.
“Family Anders” (Different), which is a fictional family, moves to the recently inhabited district Vlinderbuurt of the new urban area. With the change-of-address card they announce their new residence in a house located on an existing street, but with a house number just above the address of the last house on the street. From the moment of this introduction until their moving out, the family Anders contacts the neighbors with various messages on a regular basis. The contents of such memos vary from “sometimes wrongly delivered” envelopes addressed to the family Anders itself, to letters or a community newspaper discussing issues of common interest of all inhabitants of the shared locality. Whether the residents ignore the mailings, look for the family Anders to re-deliver the letters to the “correct” addressee, or activate other neighbors in search of the meaning behind this all, the imaginary life of the family presents one way of making a connection to the social, political and cultural contexts, but mainly, to the daily concerns of the people.
