Alter-Places was an action-research project with a mission to empower Alternative Cultural Places (ACPs) as pivotal catalysts for innovation in the cultural sector, investigating and sharing sustainable practices that contributed to a more equitable, eco-conscious and sustainable Europe.
About this initiative
Over the last few decades, ecological awareness has emerged on a global scale, reinforced by the Covid-19 crisis. Yet these global issues also call for action from those working at the ultra-local level. While political actors and associations are already taking action locally, the role of artists in bringing new imaginations to bear remains essential.
Amid this context of social, environmental and political crisis, developing a more sustainable model of society involving cultural actors, particularly at the local scale, is urgent. Alternative culture and art have a unique role to play in achieving sustainability goals, especially through the freedom brought by creative processes and experimentation, the exploration of margins and boundaries, and the power of expression.
This is where the Alter-Places project and the Alternative Cultural Places (#ACPs) came in. Sitting at the crossroads of artistic creation and social and/or environmental commitment, ACPs act within local ecosystems as laboratories of sustainable practice, each in their own way. Through the experimental nature of their organisation and programming, these places bring "alternatives" to dominant paradigms, foregrounding ecological resilience, social justice, inclusiveness and vibrant modes of life.
Alternative Cultural Places (short as #ACPs) are defined as interstitial places in the creative city gathering collectives and organisations characterized by:
- a "do it yourself" approach,
- focus on exploration,
- hybridization of artistic practices,
- possessing a community orientation.
Usually, ACPs are occupying post-industrial buildings and situated in marginalized areas in the cities. They are seen as factories and laboratories of new ways of living together, as well as:
- urban resilience,
- commoning practices,
- keys to support the ecological transition in the urban areas, in which they are located.
Alternative Cultural Places, or #ACPs in other words, experience tensions in their ability to be durable, because of:
- physical and architectural constraints,
- a lack of material resources,
- space,
- skills,
- institutional and political constraints,
- a lack of political support and policies etc.
It is necessary to determine the unique value of informal and tacit knowledge in terms of sustainability of these places that remains unclear, poorly documented or shared.
Alter-Places was a cooperative project about sustainable practices, which explores the value and contribution of sustainable practices implemented by #ACPs in the development of:
- green,
- fair,
- diverse urban ecosystems through collaborative work.
It all started in the autumn of 2023 when the leading partner Association MU which is operating La Station - Gare des Mines in Paris (France), alongside six dedicated partners in Sweden, Ukraine, Croatia, Germany and Canada embarked on a journey with the Alter-Places project.
Taking as a starting point a holistic perspective of sustainability and ecological transition, Alter-Places aspired to explore, taxonomize, map, and disseminate sustainable and innovative practices implemented by #ACPs in Europe, belonging to Trans Europe Halles network. The project involved in-depth case studies of #ACPs facing significant urban revitalization challenges. The project aimed to:
- map #ACPs' sustainable practices in the domains of social inclusion, economic and social innovations, ecological transition, and sustainable policy actions;
- expand the understanding of how #ACPs can serve as catalysts for ecological transitions through the development of new socio-economic models and artistic practices;
- provide fresh insights into sustainable innovation by offering a toolkit and training resources to bolster the ecological transition of the cultural sector in Europe.
Major activities
The project was structured in the following way:
- a survey on sustainable practices in #ACPs led by the LabEx ICCA (Paris 3 - Sorbonne University);
- 5 meetings offering a programme of activities: panels, workshop, prototypes, visits:
- Hybrid meeting during Trans Europe Halles Camp Meeting in Tartu (late May-early June 2024) to focus on cultural actors' issues they experience in their ability to be durable, particularly in crisis context will be the first two steps.
- 3 workshops organised in Malmö, Zagreb and Berlin respectively by NGBG (Sweden), CDA / Mocvara (Croatia) and Urban Spree (Germany) in late 2024 to focus on the local context and experiences of the place. It will be the chance to create prototypes to help #ACPs to be more sustainable by tackling issues of different layers: internal organisation, artistic programming, audience experience, and relationship with space and aesthetics.
- Final event in Paris, La Station - Gare des Mines, in early 2025 as a release of the works and prototypes created during Alter-Places.
Discover who was part of the consortium
Université Paris 13 – via the Université Sorbonne Paris Nord Department
LabEX ICCA – a research laboratory based in France
Trans Europe Halles (international network based in Lund, Sweden)
& the following Alternative Cultural Places:
La Station — Gare des mines (Alternative Cultural Place or #ACP based in Paris, France)
NGBG (Alternative Cultural Place or #ACP based in Malmö, Sweden)
Culture Development Association (CDA) (Alternative Cultural Place or #ACP based in Zagreb, Croatia)
Urban Spree (Alternative Cultural Place or #ACP based in Berlin, Germany)
Izolyatsia (Alternative Cultural Place or #ACP based in Kyiv, Ukraine)
Survey on sustainable practices (closed)
As part of Alter-Places, a survey mapped the sustainable practices of alternative cultural centres across Europe. Open to representatives of alternative cultural centres involved in sustainable practices, it took around 15 minutes to complete and was available in English and French. The survey's findings fed directly into the project's research and its final publication, SUSTAIN-ABLE?
Final publication, SUSTAIN-ABLE?
Alter-Places culminated in SUSTAIN-ABLE?, a hybrid publication combining a "sensible restitution" of the project's research with a speculative prototype for the future of Alternative Cultural Places. Part exhibition, part inquiry, the booklet took the form of the restitution presented at the project's final event in Paris, at La Station – Gare des Mines, in April 2025. It captures 18 months of transnational collaboration between artists, researchers, practitioners and experts — not as a retrospective, but as an open framework for imagining what might still be possible for ACPs across Europe.
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