Social Art in the Public Realm

We have now finished all of our public interventions.  It was an exhausting but quite exhilarating process.

On Day 6 of the project we set up on the sidewalk of one of the backstreets behind Commercial St, in front of a closed shop.  A cow almost barged into the table as we were installing, but luckily we were able to divert her!  We had a nice crowd of people, especially a mother who embroidered a beautiful lotus flower and her two daughters, all of whom stayed for a long while.

Day 7 we tried to install at the Mota Arcade Mall on Brigade Rd but were told immediately that we needed a permit.  Of course the manager was out to lunch so we had to move on, and we were able to secure permission quickly to set up at the Monarch Plaza.  Since we were set up on top of a short flight of stairs, we actually had to go to the sidewalk and try to entice people to participate…something which up until then was not necessary.  One of the participants told us of a very dangerous place for men or women, in his opinion: “Only murders take place there, in Jallahalli! Can’t even think of going there alone.”  A pair of young women who work in a shop on Brigade Road told us that they´re simply not allowed anywhere by themselves, and much less at night.

The next morning,  Day 8, we set up at 7 am on the walking path of Ulsoor Lake where we had quite a few joggers as well as many curious onlookers who were on the other side of the fence.  After a couple of hours it became too hot and sunny, so the joggers disappeared and we decided to go to shady Ganja Park (Rest House Park), where we actually ran into two separate groups of school boys who had also participated in Cubbon Park a few days earlier.

Day 9, the last day, we requested permission to set up inside Safina Plaza, but the manager was not there that day, so we took our chances and tried the sidewalk outside the mall, where we were told very quickly to move.  I find it very sad that a mall can “own” the sidewalk in front of its property, which in theory should be a public space.  We packed up and tried our luck at Spencer´s on MG Road where we were told that we had to pay 5000 rupees in order to set up there, even though we weren´t selling anything!  We had much better luck when we just set up in front of a construction site on MG Road.  It´s there where we had perhaps one of our most diverse crowds, ranging from shoppers, other Srishti students on their way to Indian Coffee House, street boys, people selling things on the street, and a couple of police men who almost participated!  In particular, a man selling maps of Bangalore was particularly interested in the project and contributed various symbols to the map.

We look forward to your participation, and to hearing your stories and opinions about Bangalore on Wednesday night at 1 Shanti Road!

Hello artists, students, collaborators and visitors of Social Art in the Public Realm!

Here are a few examples of my favorite websites by artists or collectives which map cities or other spaces in different ways, mostly psychogeographically (to follow up on the talk I gave in Srishti).

First, a very fun video by a Berlin-based artist and designer named Tine Papendick.  She rides around the city on a bicycle with a roll of red string coming off the back of it, wrapping string around things and then mapping the city in fabric.  The link for this video is called “FAHR. RAD. FILM. NEW!!!” and can be found on her site:

http://ti-pi.de/

These next two are quite similar to my work, except they are digitally interactive instead of hands-on work in the public space.  The first is about the entire city of Barcelona, and the second about a community center there.  In both cases people who visit the site can add comments, stories, and photos about their experiences and emotions in those places.  Sorry they´re both only in the Catalan language but I think you´ll get the picture visually:

http://www.bdebarna.net/v2_/index.php
http://www.illafortpienc.net/mapa/

For those interested in embroidery, the next is a project in which artists Eleanor Eichenbaum Eubanks and Heather L Johnson embroidered people´s personal memories and stories onto hankerchiefs, and then went and left the hankerchiefs in the places in Manhattan where the stories took place, letting anyone pick them up and take them home.

http://cracksinthepavement.com/thepickup.html

For those interested in technology, Christian Nold digitally maps people´s emotions as they walk around cities, by giving them devices which record their “Galvanic Skin Response”…..and thus showing the spikes and valleys of areas where people are scared or excited.

http://www.biomapping.net/
And a great friend of mine who I have collaborated with many times, Margarita Pineda, Colombian-born and Barcelona-based artist, did a wonderful project called “Cartografías del Arraigo” for the Havana Biennial.  She went out to the public space and asked locals to draw their local route onto a piece of paper.  She also asked them to give her an old t-shirt, and in exchange she gave them a new one.  Onto the old t-shirts she embroidered their routes.  Here is her website:

http://www.margaritapineda.net/

I hope you enjoy!!!!!

Just a note to say that we have a venue change for tomorrow.  We wanted to set up in the Barton Center, but after talking to the building manager, he told us that all 9 people on the board of the mall would need to receive official letters and approve the project.  I have sent them emails, but the most likely scenario is that I will never receive a response, or receive one much too late.  Thus we will set up somewhere on the street either on MG Rd. or Brigade Rd.  I think it is interesting to note, for future interventions, which spaces are open to projects…Sigma Mall´s manager, for example, was very quick in giving us permission.  Hope to see you in the streets tomorrow!

Attention:  Change of Venue:  Wednesday we will be on one of the small streets surrounding Commercial St., from 3-6 pm.

Days 4 and 5 have been eventful and exciting.  Thanks to Huda and Pushpi we now have the instructions and questions translated into Kannada and Hindi.

On Monday we set up near the flower stands inside Russell Market, an area infused with aromas, sounds of flowers being clipped, bright colors, and buzzing bees, and quite a lot of interest was generated in the project there.  In particular, a group of very sweet street kids who actually live on the roof of the market participated and even helped us pack up.  Ekta was very helpful translating to Tamil and Kannada to the kids, and Deepak helped translating interviews.  One young man told us about an area near Tannery Rd. called Hegde Nagar, which is a very dangerous place where he himself has seen two people murdered, and where there are many rapes as well.  He commented that the symbol for not wanting to go to this place should have been a knife, rather than a moon, which he considers to be sacred.  

Today we went to Shivajinagar Bus Station, where after 60 seconds of setting up we were told we needed a permit.  This began a wild goose chase in which we were sent to talk to many different station managers, and ended up having to request permission in Shanthi nagar at the central offices. This process took 2 hours, but we did actually obtain the permission, and proceeded to have a great intervention at the bus station.  Once again we were surrounded by very many curious men, and just a few women.  Some women did participate however, and one told us that the City Market is a place that is fine for women to go to during the day, but too dangerous at night.  

Here are a few photos taken by myself and by Elena Pereira.

-Liz

Attention: Change of Venue:  Monday, Bangalore´s Urban Fabric will be at Russell Market from 8:30-12:30

For the past three days, Pushpi, Huda, Elena and I (along with some helpers) have taken the embroidered map of Bangalore out to different public spaces.  First, Coles Park, then Sigma Mall, and today Cubbon Park.  In each one there have been many people who have participated, and even more who have been curious.  It has been a pleasant surprise to find that men love participating in this project…in fact they often seem absolutely comfortable interacting in the public space with something new.  Women have been a bit more reluctant, but perhaps this is because there is often a large crowd of men and boys surrounding the table.  Since we feel that perhaps this aspect is sometimes deterring women from participating, we are compensating by trying particularly hard to encourage women to participate.

There have already been quite a few interesting stories, which we´ll share with you on the day of presentations.  So far, probably the most popular questions that have been answered are : “What is the heart of Bangalore?”, “Where do you live?”, “Where is a place where you mourn the loss of trees in Bangalore?”, “Where is a peaceful place?”, and “What is a place that makes you very happy?”.  We don´t yet have enough responses to see patterns of places which provoke fear in people, however a couple of the places mentioned so far have been Outer Ring Road, and Shivajinagar Bus Depot.  It must be said however that the Bus Depot and surrounding area have also received the opposite comments, by people who feel very comfortable going there, people who have lived there for years, and even by a man who enjoys going to the bus station at night to enjoy the silence.

Many of our questions do not focus on fear and gender, however I think that being a group of women going out to the public space with this project is in itself something which creates situations and conversation about fear and gender. And certainly, we are experiencing everything that goes along with working in the public space. For example, today we enjoyed the participation of some school boys who proceeded to steal my mobile phone. Theft is definitely something that I have experienced before while working, but, a pleasant surprise, and something which I feel could only perhaps have happened in India, is that they came back and returned the phone (after Radha found them and talked to them about their CONSCIENCE).  It was quite a beautiful moment.

-Liz

Hello to all! It was great meeting all of you.  We have posted a schedule for the project “Bangalore´s Urban Fabric” on the “Schedule” page.  Please check it if you want to come by and stitch your opinions into the map, or just to see what we are doing. All are welcome!  We would love to have everyone´s participation.  The more the merrier, and the more local interaction on the map, the better!

Please call Liz if you are interested:  9743821759

Thanks! - Liz, Pushpi, Huda, and Elena