Carpool is a social initiative by Garage Rotterdam focused on accessibility, inclusion and social engagement. As such, Carpool is a meeting place where art and social organisations come together.

With Carpool, we aim to create space for — and enter into dialogue with — groups that are often underrepresented in the visual arts. The emphasis lies on social aims, such as breaking through social isolation, encouraging encounters between people from different backgrounds, and opening up conversations around related taboos and misconceptions.

A recurring element in many of the activities is eating together. Sharing a meal acts as a connecting force and a catalyst for encounters, much like the role art itself can play in bringing people together. Through this project, we organise an accessible series of events and gatherings in which new audiences are introduced — or reintroduced — to art and the power of creativity in a playful way.

When we speak of accessibility, inclusion and social engagement, we mean this in the broadest possible sense. This is reflected in a range of initiatives, including organising dialogue drawing sessions with the Pauluskerk in collaboration with artist Marcha van den Hurk, facilitating a knowledge workshop on loneliness among new parents with the IDEM Foundation, and supporting Animistic Beliefs in the development of a new work about the Moluccan diaspora. In this way, we aim to provide a platform for artistic projects with social significance in the fullest sense.