Yes, very many cool, climate-adaptive actions are already being taken by our participants: citizens and professionals in the city of Rotterdam. And that’s a good thing, because it’s urgent. The weather is becoming more extreme as we speak and there is still a lot of work to be done. So we thought: there is room for even more creative, more farfetched and more innovative ideas!
By Esther Barfoot
How to turn a few litres of water into tens of gallons in a bone-dry desert? How to build a house that turns to or from the sun? For Rotterdams WeerWoord, in november we organised a ‘Festival of Farfetched Stories’. A festival where artists, inventors and activists told their seemingly impossible stories. To inspire and trigger the participants of our movement to be even more creative in preparing the city for climate change.
Can we create an online experience that feels so real that in a year’s time people can’t remember whether they were there virtually or in the flesh?!
Esther Barfoot
But we also set ourselves a challenge: can we create an online experience that feels so real that in a year’s time people can’t remember whether they were there virtually or in the flesh?! To realize this, we personally dropped off goodie bags in the days before the festival. Goodie bags that also contained a drink and a bite, so people could have a shared physical experience eating and drinking together. We also invited people to dress up in their festival gear, use festival photos as their background and we opened with an audio journey to the festival. During the festival we also shared moments of dancing together and having a laugh.
Apart from the artists, inventors and activists sharing their unlikely stories, we had a live, online tour around the food forest. Participants could test their improvisational talent in the cavern of the weather gods. And of course, there was a fireplace for unexpected encounters and conversations. FOMO was definitely lurking for the 200 or so participants, as every mouse click took them to a new world.
The artist and activists who delivered content to the festival were among others: Barry de Bruin/Mona Lisa, Joost Conijn, Ap Verheggen, Max de Corte, Rene van der Veer and Romy van Eijk.