The Grand Domestic Revolution GOES ON

The Grand Domestic Revolution (GDR) GOES ON is a mid-way manifestation of User’s Manual: The Grand Domestic Revolution, a long-term ‘living research’ that has been initiated as Casco’s contribution to Utrecht Manifest 2009.

The GDR GOES ON is conceived to reflect the major activities and investigations developed thus far by articulating key questions through public discussions in different formats. It consists of CHECK-IN, a four-day programme, READ-IN, a collective activity organised by an ongoing reading group, a neighbourhood ACTION and a SYMPOSIUM titled Dwelling in the Commons. The GDR GOES ON is also accompanied by a PUBLICATION. At a time when the support structures in our lives, such as housing, care system, “privacy” are absorbed into capitalist operations and become increasingly precarious, GDR aims to investigate what other ways of living together are possible.

CHECK-IN: 28, 29, 30, 31 October 2010
READ IN: 30 October 2010
ACTION: 15 / 16 December 2010
SYMPOSIUM: 21 November 2010

The full programme will be available online at www.cascoprojects.org by the 30th of September. For further inquiries please contact gdr@cascoprojects.org.

User’s Manual: The Grand Domestic Revolution explores the potential of the domestic and private spheres as a locus for creating 'the commons' – a self-organised form of sharing both material and immaterial resources – by means of artistic, organisational and spatial design operations. The project is titled after a book by architecture historian, Dolores Hayden, on the late 19th century material feminist design movement in the United States that communalised the spaces of isolated domestic work; they built public kitchens, communal apartments, co-operative childcare facilities, organised their own working and living co-operatives and were involved with the restructuring the design of towns. User’s Manual: The Grand Domestic Revolution recalls this multi-faceted social movement, and by means of action research, artistic investigations, theory and design/architectural approaches search for other forms of living, that resist and subvert the dominant models under the pervasive influence of neo-liberalism. What began as a one year project in October 2009 will continue, culminating in an exhibition and publication in October 2011 to share its research outcomes and potentially act as a catalyst for further projects. An apartment rented as the headquarters of the project continues to be available for residency and visit.

The GDR GOES ON is made possible with a number of collaborations: CHECK-IN is organised with the support of Dutch Design Double and Centraal Museum, ACTION is realised by Katerina Seda in collaboration with SKOR and the SYMPOSIUM is co-organised with the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi).