Participation for Real - Hülya Ertas & Elke Krasny [DEBATE]

This event is part of our Symbiotic Hospitality program

31 march 2026
20u - 22u

Timelab (Kogelstraat 34, 9000 Gent)

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Participation for Real

Participation for Real brings together critical perspectives on participatory practices in architecture, design, and spatial production. The book examines how participation is enacted in concrete contexts, beyond formal procedures or rhetorical commitments, and asks what participation actually produces in terms of power, responsibility, and collective agency.

The launch takes the form of a public debate hosted in collaboration with VAI and Hülya Ertas. Contributors and invited speakers reflect on participation as an ongoing practice for which the discussion addresses its ambiguities and tensions. When does participation redistribute agency, and when does it merely shift labour or responsibility? How do spatial, legal, and organisational conditions shape who can participate, how, and at what cost? And what forms of care and commitment are required to sustain participatory processes over time?

The booklaunch situates participation within the broader themes of the programme, engaging it as a relational practice that unfolds through hosting, negotiation, and shared accountability. It invites architects, designers, students, and cultural practitioners to critically examine their own assumptions and positions within participatory work.

Introduction and context by Hülya Ertas, launch of the book (7 authors), bookshop sales, lecture and talk + drink 
 

Illustration by Sofie De Cleene