Do you know, are you, or do you have a child who’d like to come to Amstelpark on 4 October and learn to listen to all living things?

Then come along to Amstelpark on 4 October to find out more. Read more below:

The Zoöp Amstelpark Children’s Council – Come and learn to talk to Nature!
Who is it for: Children aged 8 to 12
When: Sunday 4 October, 1 pm–3 pm
Where: Meeting point: the Glass House, Amstelpark

What will you be doing? In this introductory workshop for the Zoöp Amstelpark Children’s Council, children will discover how to listen to trees, animals and plants—not just as nature to be observed, but as beings with a voice. Learn to Talk to All Living Things!

Getting to know each other
You’ll get to know the other children and the wildlife in Amstelpark. You’ll talk about who you are, where you’re from, and what comes to mind when you think of ‘wild’—through a drawing.

The wild boar
Artist Theun Karelse has created a life-size wild boar. Together with a few children, we’ll bring her to life and literally step into the body of an animal. How does it feel to be a wild boar? What does the boar want from the park, and what does the park offer the boar?

Exploration walk
You’ll head into the park together, using all your senses: sight, touch, smell and hearing. You’ll collect whatever you find, hear and smell.

Update your drawing
After the walk, you’ll redraw your first sketch, this time incorporating your new insights. What do you see differently?

No experience is needed. Are you curious about how we can live better alongside trees, animals and all living organisms? And what exactly the Zoöp Amstelpark Children’s Council is? Then you’re very welcome to join us!

If you’d like to take part, please register for free here.

For more information, visit info@zone2source.net

Background

On 4 October, exactly one year after Zone2Source – a testing ground for art and ecology in Amstelpark – signed the founding agreement for Zoöp Amstelpark together with the City of Amsterdam, we are launching plans for a children’s council.

What is Zoöp Amstelpark?
A ‘Zoöp’ is a form of organisation in which you learn to take into account not only human interests but those of all living organisms when making decisions. Zone2Source decided to turn Zoop Amstelpark into a learning space for the whole city where people could experiment, and invited the local council – in the context of Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary – to work together to transform Amstelpark into a place where we can learn what coexistence, design, planning, legislation and politics mean for a city with billions of inhabitants (everything that lives) rather than just a million people.

Why are we doing this?
We are increasingly realising that, over the past few hundred years, people have made some very poor decisions because they failed to take into account what the Earth and all the life that grows and thrives on it needs. Now we must seek a completely different way to better shape our role on a planet where we depend on so many different species (we breathe the oxygen that plants release, we drink water from rivers and rain). And what better place than a park, where, in the city, we come into contact with so much other life. Together with children, adults, artists and policymakers, we are experimenting with different forms of coexistence in which all life truly matters.

Speakers with the Living
A Zoöp has ‘Spokespersons for the Living’ who represent the interests of living beings (people, plants, animals) in decision-making. Zoöp Amstelpark, as the first public Zoop (involving an arts organisation, a university, a vocational college and the local council), has a Council of Spokespersons for the Living. At present there are two, but we want to expand this to include a diverse range of people from all sorts of different backgrounds. Children are the future and must have an important say in it. That is why we are setting up a Children’s Council for Zoöp Amstelpark, where you can explore and learn, together with others, how to ‘Speak with Life’, and act as a guide for others in inhabiting the world in a better way.

What does the children’s council look like?
The Zoöp Amstelpark Children’s Council will consist of nine children aged between 8 and 12. For six months (January–June 2027), they will have a say in how a section of Amstelpark is run.

De centrale vraag van de Kinderraad is

“How can children act as guides to help us interact with the living world in a better way?”

Over the course of six months, the children are given responsibility for a small section of the park.

Here, together, they explore the ups and downs of all living organisms: trees, plants, people, animals, water, soil and other forms of life. The Children’s Council begins with an introduction to listening to and experiencing trees, plants and animals, during which we focus on exploring and experiencing all the relationships between organisms, including ourselves. The children set out on their own explorations using all the senses through which we, as physical beings, experience the world: sight, touch, smell and hearing. They record their experiences and discoveries on a three-dimensional map, make audio recordings, engage in dialogue, ask questions and come up with ideas on how we can encourage park visitors to relate differently to the nature around them.

How can we turn the park into a place of learning where we can practise and work together towards a better coexistence of all life?

The Children’s Council is therefore not just a place where children learn about nature and biodiversity. It is also a place where their perspectives and ideas are taken seriously and where they can genuinely contribute their thoughts and actions regarding the future of humanity and nature. Everyone can take part; we do everything together, and it’s not just about talking but, rather, about discovering and shaping experiences and ideas in all sorts of creative ways.

There are no physical or language barriers; although Dutch is the main language, everyone is welcome!

The Children’s Council for Zoop Amstelpark is being developed by Emer Beamer (participatory learning designer), Semuel Sahureka (founder and spokesperson for the Saka Mese Nusa AllifURU Foundation), artist and Speaker with the Living Theun Karelse, and Zone2Source director/curator Alice Smits.