Hop Hope Hof

25 February 2018–04 November 2018 / Casco HQ

To enroll, send an email to Merel Zwarts by Saturday, 21 April. We hope to see you on Sunday, 22 April!

Casco shares the tranquil Abraham Dolehof courtyard with residents and other art and cultural spaces in the middle of the Utrecht museum quarter. We hold joint responsibility for the (green) management and maintenance of Abraham Dolehof, as well as the preservation of this special place. It is one of our commons and sites for commoning, which reminds us of the socio-historical fact that the courtyard garden used to be home to a real playground in the seventies. This has sparked the idea of examining the “playability” of this location with the project entitled Hop Hope Hof.

Casco and artist Merel Zwarts invite you—and your children!—to enroll in Hop Hope Hof, a course that consists of workshops for and by children, in which we jointly explore the possibilities of the Abraham Dolehof and strengthen our ties to the immediate neighborhood. After the introduction, the meetings will take place across four editions of the Cultural Sunday in Utrecht.

The program acts as a site for meeting and collaboration; it offers space for collectivity and the exchange of ideas; and it gives children the opportunity to invent their own forms of play, rules, and even toys. Participants are guided by artist and experienced teacher Merel Zwarts and special guests. Ultimately, the results will be reflected in a “Ludotheek”—a public play library of which its members can rent or borrow shared toys, games and playspaces in the Abraham Dolehof and beyond.

“Circle-time Workshop: Making a Play Carpet Together”, is the first session of “Hop Hope Hof”, a children’s workshop with Merel Zwarts exploring the possibilities of the Abraham Dolehof as a commons and takes place on Sunday, 22 April from 14:00 to 16:00 hrs. We will invent a play carpet together by dancing with fabric!

For more information, please see below. To enroll, send an email to Merel Zwarts by Saturday, 21 April. We hope to see you on Sunday, 22 April!

Details about Hop Hope Hof

Each of the program’s four workshops will focus on a different collective activity, in which objects, instructions, and tools are collectively developed for the future library. As the sessions build on each other, the children who participate will influence the progress of the project. Because of this open and flexible nature, additional information on the forthcoming workshops will be published after the previous ones.

Times

Sunday, 25 February: Introduction Sunday, 22 April (Cultural Sunday: Northward)
Sunday, 3 June (Cultural Sunday: Utrecht Central)
Sunday, 16 September (Cultural Sunday: opening of the cultural season)
Sunday, 4 November (Cultural Sunday: Utrecht Digital)

All events are currently scheduled for 14:00 – 16:00 hrs.