We invite you to REFUSE.
REFUSE is situated in our observations and personal experiences with urban life in
metropolitan cities in Europe formed by culturally and economically diverse communities. The systemic
configuration of technocratic capitalism which surrounds us (psychic, social, economic, political) is
characterised by a profound and far-reaching condition of separation and individualism. This condition
informs all layers of everyday life in the city, reaching from institutions and urban environments to social
behaviours in neighbourhoods and intimate family relations. It segregates people in our society and
alienates us from our living environment. In recent years, much attention has been given to the restructuring
of public institutions and urban architecture, to tackle the extractive and oppressive logic of capitalism and
to create more social cohesion, environmental awareness and citizens participation. With our project we
would like to add to this work by focusing specifically on designing PRACTICES for a joyful transformation
of social relations through combining the methodologies of performance studies and social design and community art with
local community practices in the context of communal life. The main objective of REFUSE is to design
collective practices that can be implemented into everyday life and lead to the formation of social relations
that are based on CARE. In this sense REFUSE can be understood as a GYM that provides the
infrastructure and the exercises to collectively train "care muscles".
