About Doors of Perception

SUMMARY

In order to do things differently, people need to see things differently. Doors of Perception (Doors) began life in1993 as a celebrated international conference in Amsterdam. Since its inception, Doors has brought together grassroots innovators, entrepreneurs, educators, and designers who want to imagine alternative futures - sustainable ones - and take design steps to realize them.
In its early days, one thousand people or more would attend a Doors conference; participants came from more than 50 countries. Nine set-piece Doors conferences have been organized in all - the first seven in Amsterdam, thereafter in different cities in India. In India, our focus is more on in-situ project workshops than on set-piece talking shops.
The results of the Doors conferences have all been published on this website. The site, which is visited by about 600,000 people a year, won a 'Peoples Voice Award' at the Webbies -- the so-called "Oscars of the Internet" -- in 1999. The Doors of Perception blog has been published here since 2001. Doors of Perception Report, a free monthly newsletter reaching more than 25,000 readers, has been published since 2002.
From 1993-2000, the conference was a project of the Netherlands Design Institute, a Dutch government-funded think-and-do-tank. In January 2000 Doors of Perception bv was founded as a small private company to produce the conference and associated projects. The motivation was that many of the ideas which emerge at a Doors conference are interesting for companies and organisations - but hard for them to act upon.

DOORS OF PERCEPTION PROJECTS

Doors of Perception acts a bit like a film producer. We conceive and organise projects around the world, at a city-region scale, in which communities imagine sustainable futures - and take practical steps to realize them. In recent times Doors projects have included Dott07 a two-year programme a year of community design projects that explored what life in a sustainable region could be like - and how design can help us get there; Doors of Perception 9 a ten-day projects camp in New Delhi on food systems, City Eco Lab a festival about sustainable daily life visited by 85,000 people in the Rhone Alps region of France; and Four Days Halifax - a time-compressed mini-festival in Nova Scotia whose aim was to help that city get its hands muddy in a green economy.

Doors of Perception events are based on different aspects of daily life - food, water, energy, mobility, school, and economy; we then connect these activities with innovative new approaches that range from permaculture and spin-farming, to open money, alternative trade networks, dry toilets, sustainable urban drainage, alternate reality games, watershed planning, seed banks, de-motorisation, and VeloWalas.
The directors of Doors of Perception BV are John Thackara and Kristi van Riet. The best way to get in touch with us is via email at desk@doorsofperception.com The business site of John Thackara is at: http://www.thackara.com or email him directly at: john@doorsofperception.com

CONFERENCE HISTORY

The international conference, first held in 1993, asked, in relation to the internet and new technologies: "what is it for?". Doors has always prioritised social needs over technology-push on the agenda of innovation. Each conference had a theme, such as 'home', 'speed' ,'play' or 'lightness'. Speakers from many disciplines addressed the theme: participants made their own connections between the ideas presented and their own work.

From the start, the conference brought together different disciplines and communities that would not otherwise have met. People from many countries, many disciplines, many industries, and many communities, attend: designers, teachers, policy makers, managers of media, internet and publishing companies, toy makers, technologists, journalists, computer scientists, philosophers- and students of the above , whatever their age. Connections made at Doors led to high-value relationships, projects, and new business ventures.

DOORS OF PERCEPTION ALUMNI

Our conference speakers have included: writers (Manuel De Landa, Andrew Ross, Bruce Sterling, Alex Steffen); philosophers (Ivan Illich, Pierre Levy, Derrick de Kerckhove); internet pioneers (Jimmy Wales, Joi ito, Sunil Abraham, Stefan Magdalinski); architects (Rem Koolhaas, Christopher Alexander, Adriaan Geuze, Winy Maas); biomimics (Janine Benyus); development experts (Cameron Sinclair); designers (Bruce Mau, Ezio Manzini, Jogi Panghaal, Lidewij Eelkoort, Francois Jegou, Marco Susani); ethnographers (Jan Chipchase); food artists [Debra Solomon, Maja Kuzmanovic]; media artists (Toshio Iwai); urban agriculturists (Andre Viljoen); engineers (Adriaan Beukers, Natalie Jeremijenko); supply chain revealers [Ian Brown, Ulla-Maaria Mutanen); Kaos Pilots (Uffe Elbaek]; computer scientists (Danny Hillis, Mitchel Resnick, Neil Gershenfeld); software developers (Kai Krause, Pattie Maes); environmentalists (Wolfgang Sachs); economists (Susan George); money experts (Margrit Kennedy); entrepreneurs (Marko Ahtisaari, Sam Pitroda, Usman Haque, David Liddle); musicians (Ivo Janssen, Brian Eno, Michael Waisvisz); game developers (Will Wright); fashion forecasters (Li Edelkoort); Vatican internet advisors (Claude Gaignebet); theatre directors (Tony Graham); museum directors (James Bradburne, Paola Antonelli).

OF HISTORICAL INTEREST

Although these pages date back to an earlier period, these press comments, and our original FAQs are still online.

CONTACT DETAILS

Doors of Perception fiscal address:
Trust Accounting,  Vlierberg 4-04, 3755 BS  Eemnes NL, The Netherlands
phone: +31 [0]35 539 5295

Doors of Perception postal address:
Doors of Perception, Barentszplein 3HG 1012 NJ Amsterdam NL

Doors of Perception bank account
Bankaccount nr. 57.05.09.610 ABN AMRO Bank Amsterdam,
VAT[BTW] number: NL.8104.13.802.B01

[updated February 2010]