The village laboratory (Landsbylaboratoriet) is a unique venture that goes far beyond our common perception of what a village is. Our goal is to explore the social and cultural patterns that bind a community together, while creating a new perspective on what it means to live in a village.
We have taken the first step towards this goal by implementing an ambitious 10-year cultural plan. This planning basis forms the basis for a number of cultural events, where local associations, groups and individuals play an active role in creating meaningful cultural events.
Two central pillars of our Village Laboratory model are the "Biennale" and the "Village Meeting." These two platforms serve as both presentation spaces and discussion forums. Here different actors can share their perspectives, show their work and engage in meaningful conversations. Our goal is clear: to continue exploring and developing the villages of the future together.
The village laboratory is an experiment, a journey and a community. We invite you to follow our journey, participate in our events and be part of the continued search for innovative models of village communities in the future.
Welcome to the Village Laboratory - where creativity, community and change meet in the heart of the village.
Manifest
With the laboratory, we want to investigate the social and cultural patterns that create a finely meshed web that holds the village together. Because togetherness is not a matter of course. That's why we put the obvious under the microscope in a community that wants to transcend our familiar notion of what a village is.
We have therefore asked ourselves the following questions:
- What characterizes a village?
- What defines a village?
- Is it an art to be a village?'
- Who stays together in a village?
- What are the cultures in the village?
- Is there an edge to a village?
- What does culture do for a village?
- What is our "sex appeal"?
The idea is to do investigative actions in connection with the village's other cultural events. These actions build towards a cultural 10-year plan and the creation of the Idom Biennale starting in 2016 and the pilot of the Village Meeting in 2017. During 10 years there will thus be 5 biennales of 14 days duration in June and 5 village meetings of 12 hours duration. The content will be cultural events where local associations, groups and individuals participate actively in the creation of a cultural event space.
Project model
As a model for the Village Laboratory, work is done with 2 important areas that feed into each other: One is a Biennale and the other is the Village Meeting. By creating these two forums, there will be both a presentation forum and a discussion forum where different actors can present and speak with the aim of continuing to search and develop models for the village of the future. The main idea is a pendulum between practice and theory, where:
- The biennale represents the concrete testing of various laborious cultural events between local and professional actors. The common thread in the Biennale will be a cultural performance built around "one of the great stories" such as Hamlet, Don Quixote or Ulysses, where local and professional forces work together for a joint presentation based on their craft. Thus, the acrobat is seated with the tractor driver, the ballet dancer with the horse rider, the poet with the shepherd, etc. In addition to this, the Biennale will also be a cultural meeting place, where various local actors will present, explore and investigate new forms of expression together. It could be the local sports club, which, together with an acrobat, sets up "acrobat football" during the Biennale period, etc.
- The village meeting will be the place where people go with their opinion. Thus it is a variant of the Folkemødet on Bornholm; but set within the framework of a village. The most important thing will be to have "topics" set for debate. There are no topics or themes that are too big or small; but people must debate with their feet understood in the way that the whole of Idom-Råsted during the Village Meeting e.g. opens different homes as a stage for the debates. It can be a garden, a living room, a kitchen, a spot in nature or a barn. The card for the village meeting will thus be borne by the village's openness and willingness to put themselves and each other at stake. After each village meeting, a "white book" will be prepared that can take different forms and not necessarily be a work of poetry.
It is local development and not the settlement of a village community.
