At Paradiso in Amsterdam, four members of staff reflect on their plans to reposition the venue, currently best known for live music, as a wide-ranging cultural platform. Operating under the name Kosmos, they develop programmes beyond the standard concert schedule, bringing together art, science, literature, politics and culture, while exploring how to make these initiatives (more) visible to a wider audi- ence. They discuss the strategies and methods they employ, draw on Paradiso’s rich history for guidance, and describe how Kosmos is helping to reshape the venue as a living room ‘for and by the city’, as it once was.

Context

This text is one of the pilot studies of Re-Imagine Europe: New Perspectives for Action. In these contributions we explore and reflect on artistic practices and experimental approaches in the cultural field that can engage and activate audiences and communities to address ecological, social, and political challenges. The pilot studies provide an overview of practices of cultural organisations that can serve as models, recipes, or tools for transformation for current and future generations of cultural workers and artists.

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