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YA + K

YA + K is a French collective of artists and designers that seek new ways of understanding and defining public space. Their work encompasses exhibitions, gardens, interventions and workshops, all sharing the same mission.

YA+K projects focus on low-tech, do-it-yourself innovations and the creation of new economies.  YA+K also seeks to make available the tools of creation — hand tools, 3d Printers and computers, so that the local public can become involved and engaged. The ultimate ambition being that the public understands its power to shape its own environment.

YA + K’s mission is to promote people thinking about how they can create their own spaces. This leads to a focus on material re­utilization, and an affinity for public spaces, wastelands, vacant lots, etc.

YA + K operates in a range of public spaces– gardens in particular. To YA + K, a garden is a “a paradigm of a performative social construction.” a place where the arrangement of the garden prefigures the arrangement of social interaction.

YA + K identifies the public workshop as their favorite tool. Their public workshops focus on freeing people from the classical, hierarchical constraints in society. The idea is that everyone can be a designer and everyone can be a builder– in a format that  includes both community discussion and community production.

All projects and programs are unified by a commitment to the idea that all public space can be organically and democratically created. We encourage you to learn more at their website.