During the ‘Hackathon #404 Territory Not Found’ students and young professionals were working on ideas to strengthen ties between Lille, the main city in the north of France, and southern dutch cities. My team and I won the final pitch with our idea. Our concept is called ‘Le Kijkdoos’, roughly translated in ‘viewing box’. It is based on an ancient dutch custom where children use an old shoe-box to create a diorama with small figures, telling a story. The top of the box has transparent paper which lets through light. The front has a small peeping hole to look inside and see the show.
The element of wonder and anticipation of ‘what’s inside the box?!’ is the starting point of our idea. Which will be a catalyst to get people exited about the different cities and strengthen their ties. We want to transform the ‘Kijkdoos’ into a large interactive installation. To be placed on the main squares of the participating cities. People would walk past it and be intrigued, they would have to possibility to look and see what’s inside this box. Inside we would show an unexpected perspective on the city, making people interested to learn more and connect with the city.
An important part of our idea is that our Kijkdoos is not just a ‘Kijkdoos’, but a vehicle to connect people, cities and cultures in various ways. The visitors, but also the content creators. We would like to invite inhabitants from different socio-economical groups to participate. To show parts of the city that are special to them. Although our project is suitable for all the cities in the south of the Netherlands and for Lille. First the focus lies on 2 cities, namely Rotterdam and Lille. Celebrating the 60 years anniversary of their sister-city bond in 2018. At the moment the project is in further development.
