Rumor Camp
Following an invitation by Sign Groningen, Parhessia, and TimelineGallery, I participated in a project titled “Fear in Public Space”. The project started in 2018 with a series of lectures, talks and workshops in Academie Minevra in Groningen. Later, the participants formed small groups of artists to deliver urban intervention projects related to the topics from the sessions. Based on examples and discussions formed within the larger group, artists Angeliki Marina Diakrousi, Alice Strete, and I formed a small group to work and play around the idea of xenophobia. The format of the project turned out to become a city-wide rumor prank.
During the campaign for the municipal election of 2018 in Groningen, we appropriated the name and logo of the local LET’S GRO festival, changing it into LET’M GRO. We spread stickers with pro-refugee slogans around the city and created the hashtag #letmgro on social media. This was part of our attempt to spread a rumor that a big refugee camp will be built in the neighboring Noorddijk area, within the current context of refugee settlements being pushed further outside the city, as well as the massive student accommodation crisis.
On the 17th and 18th of November 2018, we asked two Dutch speakers, actor Arminé Telimi and artist Klaas Koetje, to conduct interviews in the city center, as well as close to Noorddijk. Locals were asked what needs to be done politically in Groningen (with regard to the upcoming election), as well as their opinion on the supposable refugee camp, in the context of the housing crisis.
In addition to the stickers, hashtags and the interviews, we recorded longer audio interview as one-on-one conversations between Groningen residents and our interviewers. The interviews were later broadcasted by Radio Zomaar in Groningen. Also, we asked a local graffiti artist to freely interpret the project and draw some of his famous face drawings around the city, with regards to the project.
In late 2019 and following an interview by Bibi Straatman (Academie Minevra) organized by Sign Groningen, a conclusion to the project was discussed between Bibi Straatman and the Rumor Camp group. The results will be available as a booklet produced by Sign Groningen in early 2020. During the interview, it was decided that the project Rumor Camp continues living. The next target would be the city of Rotterdam, and possibly, the Rumor Camp project will be collaborating with project Open Source Governance in investigating rumors vs. collective-decision making.
