Trojan Horse Summer School 2025

Posted on by Trojan Horse

TROJAN HORSE SUMMER SCHOOL 2025
“The Day After Amnesia”
August 4–10, 2025
Bengtsår, Finland

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We are getting ready! Trojan Horse is organizing the tenth Summer School, The Day After Amnesia, taking place August 4–10, 2025 on Bengtsår island, Finland!

This year the programme unfolds from a question: if you, your community, or the planet that we inhabit would be able to forget something in order to re-learn, what would that be?

The Day After Amnesia will become a collective experiment to leave behind the patterns and burdens of the [fossil-capitalist, colonial, extractivist] present and to try-out alternative ways to live collectively as artists, designers and architects beyond the status quo. The proposal to forget certain habits, social norms or personal behaviours, is a trigger to make space for prototyping, embracing and putting in practice political and utopian speculations from our different perspectives. We believe that togetherness and mutual care are ways to collectivise and disentangle our individual struggles.

The Trojan Horse Summer School takes place as a camp on Bengtsår island in southern Finland. The location, remote from ordinary life, is an inviting context to re-imagine our daily lives, rhythms and explore different approaches to unlearning as a way to resist, build resilience and envision radical futures.

The Summer School welcomes 10–15 participants. Everyone interested in design, art, architecture and socially engaged cultural practices in general are warmly welcome to apply. The days will be a combination of learning sessions, workshops, recreational activities and convivial moments like sauna and hikes. Part of the activities are offered by Trojan Horse, part by external guests (tba), and part by the participants. This is an ideal place to test out some ideas, continue nurturing your research and weave together an exciting week!

Apply to the summer school by filling the form here: https://forms.gle/CfxWcNRGUattH3iUA

The themes we want to address and explore together relate to:
#Relational social system — technological infrastructure
#Self-organization, Commons and peer-to-peer learning
#Rituals, Inhabiting practices and role-playing games

Practical information:

Timeline

• Summerschool: August 4-10 
• Closing open-call for participants: 22th June, at 22:00 CET.
• Response selected participants: 29nd June.
• We will send a more detailed info letter (with practical details, schedule etc.) in July.

Costs

• Participation Fee, 100€ (incl. vat)
• Transportation Costs, Self-organized return trip Helsinki – Santala – Bengtsår Island.
(approximately 30€ from Helsinki to Santala by train (vr.fi), self booking, the sooner the better.)
• Eventual camping gear. The more you can bring yourself the better. If this is a problem, we might be able to help with some things.

Transportation

• Meeting point: August 4, at 13:30 at Santala station, 10900 Hanko, Finland.
(there is a train leaving from Helsinki at 11:35, arriving at Santala at 13:19)
• Summer school ends: August 10, at 13.30 at Santala station.
(there is a train leaving from Santala at 13:49, arriving at Helsinki at 15:40)

What is provided 

4 vegan meals a day, sauna, possibility to borrow kayaks and rowing boats, sport opportunities (football/basketball field and balls), fishing sticks, boat trip to another island, possible trip to Hanko (extra costs). We will also bring paper and pens, books as well as a projector and speakers (so not necessary to bring your own computer).

Accommodation 

We will sleep in tents during the summer school. It’s possible to use tents provided by the island, but we recommend you bring your own. It’s also a good idea to bring a pillow or invest in an inflatable camping mattress. Our campground has dry toilets which means that they do not have running water. There is a shower at the sauna building and the city’s wifi network. More info abou the island here: https://nuorten.hel.fi/en/youth-centers/bengtsar-camping-island/.

Schedule & Program

We will make a more detailed program for the week together on the island. The daily schedule will follow a daily rhythm below, but not all sharing moments will be full of programs. There will be plenty of time to relax and hang out.

Breakfast_  9:00 – 10:00
Check-in_  10:00 – 10:30 
Possible sharing moment_  10:30 – 12:00
Lunch_  12:00 – 13:00
Hike & Reading / Digestion_  13:00 – 15:00
Possible sharing moment 2_  15:00 – 17:00
Dinner_  17:00 – 18:00
Possible sharing moment 3_ 18:00 – 19:00
Sauna_  20:00 →