“Hospitality is culture itself and not simply one ethic amongst others. Insofar as it has to do with the ethos, that is, the residence, one’s at-home, the familiar place of dwelling, as much as the manner of being there, the manner in which we relate to ourselves and to others, to others as our own or as foreigners, ethics is hospitality; ethics is entirely coextensive with the experience of hospitality, whichever way one expands or limits that.”

In early April 2007, Jeanne van Heeswijk, sent a letter of invitation to ALMOSTREAL project officer Igor Dobricic to become an inhabitant of The Blue House (Het Blauwe Huis) a place of cultural refuge in the Amsterdam suburb of IJburg. Igor Dobricic is invited to stay in the Blue House for a period of ± 6 months as a departure point for developing the 4th stage of ALMOSTREAL together with the Blue House. This collaboration will posit ‘clandestine’ ideas and challenge existing ideals of hospitality and the (political) relations between host and guest.

This letter of Invitation for Igor Dobricic to become a member of the Blue House marked the start of the host-guest exchange between the Blue House and the ECF.

The Blue House is a ‘guest’ house located on IJburg — a new housing estate outside of Amsterdam. It is organised as a housing association for the mind and it members of cultural thinkers and do-ers from all over the world focus in their work on the notion of experimental communities. The Blue House as much as it is a place of culture, is is also is a catalyst platform for local Ijburg residents to look into the discrepancies between urban planning and intended functions and actual use and public engagement with the urban environment by inhabitants.