BKFW25

bk feminist week took place between the 3rd and the 7th of march 2025 at bk. it was a complete week with everyday several activities around diverse themes. the week was planned with two type of events: the events to generate discussions, lectures and workshops, and the assembly internal events to give space for the organizational team and “the village” to discuss ways of organizing and interests for the near future.

the theme of the week this year was about pasts, present and futures as a way to understand the plurality of stories from the past, to converge all together in the present at the faculty, but also to build desires and ideas for the future.

monday, 3 march // seminar pasts, present and futures in plural // mapping workshop

the first day was about pasts, present and futures in a seminar during the whole day. this day was organized by a collaboration between faculty of architecture and the built environment, tu delft (laura thomas + irene luque martin ), nieuwe instituut (setareh noorani + stefanie korrel), EUR (catherine koekoek) and urbanistas rotterdam. in the morning, we explained the week, our collaboration, and we had short presentations from key women at the faculty from the past to the present amy thomas, anna vos, nama’a qudah (PhD) , and amber coppens. the session revealed a clear plural understanding of feminism, which is not possible to be navigated without an intersectional perspective and it must have an interdisciplinary approach. we felt and understood the need for solidarity and care, which are pillars missing at many moments in our everyday life. in the afternoon we had two steps: first we heard urbanistas presentation to see an active network we could become part of, which culminated with circle of stories where we got to know each other better. secondly we made a timeline mapping, which during the whole day showed publications, stories, conditions and desired futures through time. we saw discussions on feminist labels, on prosecution of an activist approach, on the issues of star architect females vs women who operate everyday with feminist values, the called feminist winter (90s/2000 onwards), the untold stories, the mapping beyond accomplishments, the need to name it, the desired to a future where women section is back and where bk has a feminist space of research and teaching. we listened to each other, cared for each other, laughed and empathized with each other. women who knew each other’s work for decades finally met in person, women who did not know each other had the opportunity to understand each other.

thuesday, 4 march // bk talks: pedagogies of feminism

the second day revolved around pedagogies of feminism. the day started with the assembly lunch, where we got to sit together, reflect and discuss what feminism is for each one of us and how much there is a need for a space to meet and to have solidarity among us. we talked about intersectionality and the need to name things — such as feminism. we talked the need to dismantle the stigma for feminists, specifically in the netherlands and to realize many of us were in that room together under the same umbrella term independently if we were calling ourselves feminists or not. In the evening we had the bk talk organized with bk public programs with the support of javier arpa fernández and rens hoofs to have a panel debate on pedagogies of feminism with els bet, amber coppens, roberto rocco, renske maria van dam, maría novas and lara schrijver. we were overwhelmed by the attendance, but most of all we enjoyed a refreshing group of stories on pedagogies beyond a traditional education institutions. we heard to go beyond the idea that feminism in our faculty is to design only for woman and that it is more about feminist values (which many of us already share). we discussed the need to go beyond the polarization of gender, the need to revisit and develop historical recognition to construct the involvement of women in our spatial design past, we discussed critical thinking and systemic issues as definitions of feminist pedagogies and we realized there was lots of interest, need, and curiosity on continuing this discussion.

wednesday, 5 march // our paths unfolding, poster workshop

the third day revolved for student driven feminism. first we had our assembly lunch where we moved more to understand struggles, fears, putting in question role models but also collectively discussing different perspectives on the current struggle of diverse positions (PhD’s, students, teachers, so on). we thought on actions and we started to discuss how important is to get more settled what “the village” is, how of then we should meet (monthly or biweekly) and how to organize ourselves. secondly, in the afternoon isabella jaramillo díaz with mary sutherland, jing spaaij, mahaa ejaz, emese nagy, wiebke stadtlander and eleonora a. organized a poster workshop where they got to know each other, they did some diving on intersectionality and they connected to each other. they first discussed pathways interconnecting them, and then had a collage making set of tables enjoying a very open and free afternoon. it was inspiring to see the care and how the week started to move from a performative process to a deeper level where we got to reflect more on our day-to-day.

thursday, 6 march // men & feminism // feminist system change // building international solidarity

the fourth day focused on solidarity and international networks. In the morning was the “men & feminism” event which had a high attendance. johnathan subendran organized this event with the support of boaz peters, roberto rocco, jonah van delden and nick jonckers newton. we experienced first a positioning exercise where everyone embodied their thinking on different prompts around feminism, then we moved to tables to discuss stories and more in depth questions, finally we made a silent reflection on feelings and ideas around men and feminism. right after that we continued with our third assembly lunch where we discussed further on education and the interconnection between PhD’s and students struggles, and again on the need of protocols of care that are more effective. the afternoon started with a workshop on leadership and capacity building with nourhan bassam from fem.des where we had the chance to go in depth in certain discussions on intersectionality, representation and what is behind certain approaches on measuring equality. we finished our day with an online event where we discussed international solidarity organized by sophia arbara, daniela maiullari and nohemi ramirez aranda and we got exposure to the diversity of conditions and struggles women face in academia around the world with ana boadillo, bri gauger, kristina hill , agustina martire, margaret ngima macharia kedogo and sonu rani das.

friday, 7 march // gebouwen door vrouwen walk // circle of stories // reading session, feminism for the 99 % // closing drinks

the fifth and final day revolved around building networks of care. in the morning there was a walk facilitated by sofie van brunschot (gebouwen door vrouwen) with the support of odilia van der valk with the idea to connect us to the tu delft campus. we walked through and within some impressive buildings designed by woman at the tud campus. after this it came the last assembly lunch where we collectively decided that the village will be an occurrence meeting lunch among the ones interested to pause, rest, connect and care beyond labels, genders, and professional expectations. from the village it can happen gathering groups to produce events, initiatives and whatever comes, but the village is at the core our place to come back to us. we talked on self-organization and execution of this group in a horizonal and collaborative approach. the afternoon started with the circle of stories event which was intimate and private event to connect and to make tangible our load, the one we think is not there but shapes us every day. the last event at bk building was the reading session coordinated by juliana gonçalves and isabella jaramillo díaz which was the perfect end of a week. we read, without expecting reflections, we heard unheard voices and we grounded ourselves with intersectional perspectives on feminism. to finalize the week and the day we met for drinks, we hugged and laughed. we exchanged feelings and desires. we realized we made it. we were together in a community of care.

reflections //

after the intensive week there are a few things who started and are right now on definition stage: the village which is a monthly lunch for anyone who feels a woman and wants to engage with feminism at the faculty; mapping care value system as a way to start documenting the people who care in our faculty based on another type of value system that goes beyond traditional outputs; the designing by feminist values group (DFV) which engages on education & research aiming to look into faculty cross-departmental levels; there is an active research with the nieuwe instituut and tu delft to see what next steps to be taken after the timeline mapping; and ultimately the intent for a bk feminist week book as a way to collect the process and the outputs of the week in a way we can document the people and the discussions that occured during the week.