In September 2022, I joined a 10-day site-specific research project in the gentrified neighborhood of Bouwlust en Vrederust, The Hague.
The project centered on direct interaction with residents through fieldwork, dialogue, and presence. I’m especially grateful to artists Ruben Abels and Iris Vetter for their guidance and insights throughout the entire project.
One of the outcomes, my second experiment, emerged after I was fully aware of the reality of the neighborhood, that the locals were slowly being pushed out due to ongoing gentrification and political speculation.

It became clear that while we, as artists were “working in the neighborhood,” the real decisions had already been made by people in power. I felt powerless in the face of a transformation that was happening right in front of everyone’s eyes — quietly, yet devastatingly.

In response, I conceived a performative action: I began drawing with chalk throughout the neighborhood. I was joined by fellow participating artists and local residents, especially children, who enthusiastically took part of this performance. The act became a kind of playful protest — a joke about our presence as artists in a place where our impact felt superficial, and about the absurdity of decorating something that is already marked for disappearance.

The chalk itself was symbolic — non-permanent, like the memories and identities being washed away.

By the next day, the drawings were gone with the rain. The gesture echoed the ephemeral nature of both the intervention and the neighborhood itself (in the eyes of who was speculating on it).

My collective action was in a way, trolling the system like kids do, knowing they won’t last, but doing it anyway.

Photography and videography of the performance by Iris Vetter.