Zoning Desire: The Politics of Urban Space

Metje Blaak is a writer and activist based in the Netherlands. She is a former sex worker and key figure in the Dutch sex workers’ rights movement, and press spokesperson for De Rode Draad. Since the 1980s, she has been closely involved in advocacy, peer support, and the development of information networks for sex workers. She played a leading role in establishing a sex workers’ union (vakbond), acting as an important representative and voice for the community. Alongside her activism, she has written across genres, including children’s literature. In 2025, she received the Andreaspenning, an award from the municipality of Amsterdam honouring individuals who have made significant contributions to the city with national impact.

Pamela Jordan is a licensed architect (USA) and researcher at the University of Amsterdam. Her work uses sound to analyse and conserve historic built environments, with recent projects focusing on places of worship, military installations, urban parks, and infrastructural ruins. She is the founder of Site Sounding Office, an architectural heritage consultancy in Amsterdam, and co-founder of the SHAARP network, which brings together interdisciplinary scholars and practitioners working with sensory approaches to the past. Her research spans academic publications and art institutions, as well as collaborations with preservation firms, public memorials, audiovisual archives, and university programmes. Most recently, she co-edited ‘New Sensory Approaches to the Past’ (UCL Press, 2025). She holds master’s degrees in architecture and historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently completing a doctorate in archaeology.

Anna Sejbæk Torp-Pedersen is an art historian and FWO-funded PhD student in the Art History Research Unit at KU Leuven University and junior fellow at the Lieven Gevaert Centre. Her research examines how counter-mapping practices by people on the move produce new imaginaries of community and access to fundamental rights. She rethinks cartography as a tool not only of power but also of resistance, showing how counter-maps can perform subaltern histories and challenge hegemonic spatial narratives.

Dr. Lidewij Tummers is a building engineer working between academia and practice, affiliated with Anhalt University of Applied Sciences and Tussen Ruimte, Deventer. In 2000, she founded the office Tussen Ruimte in Deventer, focusing on inclusive and sustainable housing. She specialises in advising on self-organised, low-impact housing and integrating gender perspectives into spatial planning. Since 2006, she has taught at various European schools of architecture and urban planning, developing courses and workshops on gender and diversity in STEM. Together with María Novas Ferradás, she published ‘Pioneers in Dutch Architecture: The Role of Women in Post-War Housing Innovations in the Netherlands’ (2021).

Polina Kanis is a Netherlands-based artist working across installation, performance, and video. Her practice investigates hidden power structures, the politics of affect, and the formation of ideological orders in culture. More recently, she has focused on the transformative potential of imagination in relation to sex work, exploring how sexuality is shaped by political and ideological frameworks. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions and film festivals, including a solo exhibition at Haus der Kunst, Munich (2017), and the parallel programme of Manifesta 10. Her work is held in collections including FRAC Bretagne, Fondazione In Between Art Film, and Kadist Foundation. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie (2017–2018), and ISCP, New York (2020).

Virág Szentkirályi is a curator, researcher, and cultural producer based in Amsterdam, working across exhibitions, public programmes, and interdisciplinary formats. Her practice centres on long-term collaboration and co-creation with artists, grounded in care, service, and solidarity. Through research-driven projects, she connects artistic inquiry to broader social, political, and ecological questions. She has held positions at the Tropenmuseum, the Rijksakademie, and Stichting Kunstwerk Loods6. Her independent curatorial work includes exhibitions such as ‘Memory Landscapes’ (Kasseler Kunstverein, 2025) and ongoing research collaborations with artists. Her recent research at the Cité internationale des arts focuses on curatorial strategies of resistance within conditions of censorship, institutional pressure, and political constraint.