Workshop (14:00–18:00, 4h) – Spatial Deliberations / Re-inventing Democratic Invitations with/as Inventions

With Gustav Nielsen (COA) and Rasmus Maabjerg (Rumgehør)

In this workshop we will explore how practices of making and crafting can be part of policy-making-processes. We will ask: How are creative making practices, including spatial design choices by facilitators and subsequent adaptations by participants, already happening in policy-making processes with public participation? What is the relationship between more-than-human agencies of our environments and technologies and the perception of affective, emotional and embodied qualities of collective action? How can a more thorough embrace of creative making practices in policy-making contribute to bridging existing communication and legitimacy gaps between democracy and commons today?

A day-long workshop with ~15-20 participants from local organizations and schools in Vesterbro culminating with a public display and roundtable with invited guests in the evening. The workshop will take outset in the context of Halmtorvet 27 and the diverse range of users and residents of the threshold spaces between the Meatpacking district, Sønderboulevard and additional public spaces in the neighbourhood. Collectively we will investigate the exhibition space and neighbourhood, define a political question to discuss, and explore ways of making and using material interventions as part of a democratic deliberation process (learning, expressing viewpoints, negotiating/sense-making, and taking collective action). The workshop will be co-taught by Gustav Nielsen (Cultures of Assembly) and Rasmus Maabjerg (Rumgehør) and co-organised with Ungdommens Demokratihus.

• 30 min — Arrival and Introductions

Coffee and introduction by Gustav Nielsen and Rasmus Maabjerg. Introductions by all participants (Inside in the exhibition sandpit)

• 45 min — Discovery

We collectively identify and map contested spaces in and around the CAFx gallery which we would like to make a temporary intervention in.

• 45 min — Testimony

Each participant takes turn making a spatial argument with materials provided. Each argument has to build on the previous.

• 45 min — Sense-making

Collectively we synthesize findings from the spatial testimonies in the construction of a new artefacts.

• 45 min — Manifestation

Based on the co-created sense-making artifacts the group collectively puts together a manifestation

• 30 min — Debrief and preparation for roundtable

On the day you can look forward to meeting:

• Torange Khonsari: Co-founder and director of public works and former consultant for the Mayor of London. Author of Commons and Public Partnership Legitimizing a Commons Political Sphere out April 2026
• Gustav Nielsen: A Luxembourg-based Danish transdisciplinary artist, architect and doctoral researcher with Cultures of Assembly at the Department of Geography and Spatial Planning at the University of Luxembourg.
• Rasmus Maabjerg: Founder of Rumgehør, an interdisciplinary studio working with architecture, design, art, and social innovation.
• Morten Roslev, Ungdommens Demokratihus (Youth Democracy House)