scholarly journals In-Between Windowscapes. A Curator’s Perspective on Collaboration as Artistic Activation in Public Spaces

2020 ◽  
pp. 259-272
Author(s):  
Chun Wai (Wilson) Yeung

This paper emphasizes that curatorial practice and site-specific art are essential aspects of the transition from artistic collaboration to collaborative curatorial practice and discovers the new potential of ‘curator as collaborator’ practice to cultivate community-based, collaborative and engaging cultural projects in public spaces. By examining the curatorial residency of my participation in Public Space 50 at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia in 2017, this portfolio investigates how I, as a curator, explore art curation locations and methods to enable students to actively work collaboratively to plan, facilitate and produce public art projects. It asks how to turn public spaces into laboratories; how can student artists work together in public space; how to empower a creative student community through artistic collaboration and how artistic activation can be developed among creative participators of different cultures and backgrounds?

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-69
Author(s):  
Heather Harrington

Abstract How people move and appear in public spaces is a reflection of the cultural, religious and socio-political forces in a society. This article, built on an earlier work titled ’Site-Specific Dance: Women in the Middle East’ (2016), addresses the ways in which dance in a public space can support the principles of freedom of expression and gender equality in Tunisia. I explore the character of public space before, during, and after the Arab Spring uprisings. Adopting an ethnographic and phenomenological approach, I focus on the efforts of two Tunisian dancers – Bahri Ben Yahmed (a dancer, choreographer and filmmaker based in Tunis, who has trained in ballet, modern dance and hip hop) and Ahmed Guerfel (a dancer based in Gabès, who has trained in hip hop) – to examine movement in a public space to address political issues facing the society. An analysis of data obtained from Yahmed and Guerfel, including structured interviews, videos, photos, articles and e-mail correspondence, supports the argument that dance performed in public spaces is more effective in shaping the politics of the society than dance performed on the proscenium stage. Definitions and properties of everyday choreography, site and the proscenium stage are analysed, along with examples of site-specific political protest choreography in Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia. I engage with the theories of social scientist Erving Goffman, which propose that a public space can serve as a stage, where people both embody politics and can embody a protest against those politics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 18-27
Author(s):  
Aurelija Daugelaite ◽  
Indre Gražulevičiūte-Vileniške ◽  
Mantas Landauskas

The concept of urban acupuncture, which has been gaining ground in recent decades, is based on the activation and revitalization of urban environments using small architectural or landscape architectural interventions in precise carefully selected locations of urban fabric. However, the rapid and unexpected design solutions of urban acupuncture, based on ecological design, nature dynamics, street art, material re-use, can cause different social and psychological reactions of urban population and these reactions may vary depending on cultural contexts. Consequently, in order to implement successful urban acupuncture projects in Lithuanian cities, it is very important to find out public opinion and priorities in the fields of public space management, aesthetics, and public art. The aim of the research was to analyze the opinion of Kaunas city residents regarding these issues. For this purpose, a sociological questionnaire survey was used. The questionnaire containing 20 questions was designed, with the aim to find out the trends of use of public spaces in the city, the attitudes of residents towards street art and other small-scale initiatives in public spaces implemented in the recent years, possibilities of creating landscape architecture based on ecological ideas in urban environment, the attitude of inhabitants towards community spaces and community space design in the city, etc. 100 residents of Kaunas participated in this online administered survey. The survey has demonstrated general positive attitude towards contemporary design trends of public spaces and public art; however, the surveyed population expressed preferences towards fully equipped public spaces offering possibilities for a wide range of activities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-93
Author(s):  
Regina Zervou

This article focuses on gender relations through the performance of carnival rites in a North Aegean island rural community. Based on qualitative research, it approaches the women’s use of public space during carnival and the changes under the influence of women’s emancipation since the 1970s. The percentage of women, especially young girls, participating in carnival rites has risen dramatically over the last decade. However, not all carnival public spaces are equally open to women. The article examines the way women try to impose their presence on the strictly male universe of the carnival space and especially the marketplace, the traditional and timeless core of the carnival rites, where only men can pronounce the obscene carnival language, fruit of the kafeneion male discourse and the reactions of the male community to the novelties brought by feminism into the village.


Author(s):  
Deni Setiawan ◽  
Timbul Haryono ◽  
Agus Burhan

The concept of an ideal public space does not just focus on the interests of a particular group or community, but rather focus on the space of social activities that represent each audience or spectator in that society. Arts and cultural activities are part of it; although the concept of public space is still abstract to represent every social individual. However, the presence of public space has created a mediation space for all forms of communication. Mediation space is considered as a crucial feature, not only as a promotional sphere but also as a place to exchange and communicate all forms of ideology, art, and culture. Art activities such as Jogja Fashion Week Carnival and Cosplay clothing performance in public spaces provide opportunities for communities or individuals, to make this activity as a public performance and part of public art. Public art tends to be creative, free, and sometimes not accompanied by a theoretical perspective, as other arts are. Art activities in public spaces which are part of the social and cultural activities are essentially standing on the ideology that have been set up for a particular interest. The interest is disseminated using mass media and advertisment. Audience or public art connoisseur in public spaces should be more intelligent and critical to accept all kinds of art activities and performances. Therefore the performance will have a balanced communication.AbstrakKonsep ruang publik yang ideal tidak saja berbicara kepentingan golongan atau komunitas tertentu, tetapi lebih fokus pada wadah aktivitas sosial yang mewakili setiap pendatang atau penonton. Termasuk didalamnya adalah aktivitas seni dan budaya, walaupun konsep ruang publik masih dapat dikatakan abstrak untuk mewakili setiap individu sosial. Akan tetapi dengan adanya ruang publik telah menciptakan ruang mediasi bagi segala macam bentuk komunikasi. Ruang mediasi ini dipandang penting, tidak saja dijadikan ranah promosi, lebih mendalam adalah untuk bertukar dan tempat komunikasi segala macam bentuk ideologi, kesenian, dan kebudayaan. Aktivitas seni semacam Jogja Fashion Week Carnival dan pagelaran pakaian cosplay pada ruang publik memberikan kesempatan bagi komunitas atau individu, untuk menjadikan aktivitas ini sebagai tontonan dan bagian seni publik. Seni publik ini tentu saja lebih cenderung lebih kreatif, bebas, dan terkadang tidak diiringi dengan perspektif teoretis, seperti yang dilakukan seni lainnya. Aktivitas seni pada ruang publik, merupakan bagian dari aktivitas sosial dan budaya, hakikatnya berdiri pada ideologi yang telah diatur untuk satu kepentingan, yang disebarluaskan menggunakan media massa dan iklan. Penonton atau masyarakat penikmat seni pada ruang publik, harus lebih cerdas dan kritis untuk menerima segala macam bentuk sajian aktivitas seni, sehingga sajian tersebut memiliki komunikasi yang seimbang.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-242
Author(s):  
Carlos Garrido Castellano

Abstract The main objective of this article is to understand the ways in which Lebanese artists are dealing with issues of normativity and legibility while operating in public spaces. By looking at the work developed by Temporary Art Platform (TAP) during the last ten years, I argue that public art has been crucial in the production of alternative understandings of civic agency and the public space. Simultaneously, by looking at A Few Things You Need to Know When Creating an Art Project in a Public Space in Lebanon, a toolkit designed by TAP in 2014, I intend to problematize the lexicon and strategies that are usually associated with understanding art activism, both as forcefully contextual and provisional.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 07007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kusumaningdyah N.H ◽  
Lia Sparingga Purnamasari

The technique of participatory design is essential for the future development knowledge of architecture to inform the improvement of architectural education and practice in Asia. Therefore to provide of inclusive public spaces for the community, this research article presents a field study of the usage of community participation design method in design and planning to provide inclusive public spaces within the kampung (settlements) in Surakarta, Indonesia. Surakarta has a problem to provide inclusive public space for its dense organic-informal kampung’s for the vulnerable populations such as children. Multi dimensional complexities of the kampung’s often challenge the notion of public space provision. Community participation approach arises as one of the preferred alternative methods to solve the problems with its basic community-based foundation. This research chose Sangkrah and Gandekan sub-districts as research locations both of the areas represent kampung’s characteristics and inhabited by many children population. Steps toward the goal of the study are; (1) field observation of the implementation of a community participation design through participatory place making project, and (2) examining typology assessment perspective, and (3) clarify participation techniques. This research used: (1) descriptive analysis for the project implementation, and (2) qualitative analysis for examining community’s perspectives. Through this multi-perspective analysis, this research presents the an alternative framework for implementing techniques community participation methods in design and planning to provide inclusive public spaces especially for children in Indonesia and other developing countries.


2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nada Shabout

Designers and architects argue that interaction in public spaces is the product of relations between physical, cultural, social, and aesthetic components. As an art historian, my interest in and understanding of the production of public space is necessarily linked to its visual construction and to public art in particular. Urban planners have always included art in public spaces as a means of forming relationships between the people and the space. Governments have similarly understood the political significance of public space and its power to make meaning and have commissioned art accordingly. This essay reflects on the role of aesthetics and public art in the production and transformation of the modern public space in the Arab world by considering two examples from Cairo and Baghdad.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Gizem Erdoğan

The term of Graffiti originated from Greek graphein can be explained simply as a critical expression including social-cultural and political responses to opposing ideologies in urban public spaces. The aim of this study to asses the concept of graffiti in the context of public space–public art with respect to the urbanism and also, examine its spatial and functional roles in urban public spaces as a communication tool.These examinations are focused on the debates over the public spaces, theirs individual usability and also theirs spatial and functional impacts on social and cultural life.It is considered that this study contributes to define both spatial and functional characteristics of graffiti phenomen as a social commnunication tool in within the the context of the public space and public art. ÖzetAntik Yunanda yazmak filline köklenen Grafiti olgusu, yaygın ideolojik düşüncenin karşısında sosyal-kültürel ve politik içerikli muhalif ifade biçiminin mekânsal düzlemde yansıması olarak ifade edilebilir. Bu araştırmanın amacı; kamusal mekân–kamusal sanat bağlamında grafiti olgusunun kent bilim alanı açısından değerlendirilerek, bireysel temsiliyet kavramı temelinde iletişim aracı olarak mekansal ve işlevsel rolünün sorgulanmasıdır. Bu sorgulamalar; kamusal mekân kavramının sosyal yaşam ve birey üzerindeki yansımalarının belirlenmesi, bireylerin kamusal mekânlar üzerindeki mekânsal–işlevsel etkilerinin ortaya konulması ve kamusal mekân kullanımının tartışılmasına dayanmaktadır. Bu yönüyle, araştırmanın “kamusal mekân” ve “kamusal sanat” bağlamında grafiti olgusunun sosyal iletişim aracı olarak mekânsal ve işlevsel karakteristiğinin tanımlanmasına katkı koyacağı düşünülmektedir.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Mennat-Allah El-Husseiny

Public space has been always regarded as a reflection of the social status of the community. Based on this assumption, the challenge for achieving a ‘socially sustainable’ community in Cairo is in need to be re-questioned in relation to the role of public space. Accordingly, the paper explores the role of public-space in maintaining the social sustenance in the extreme ends of Cairo’s social structure, first: the gated communities taking ‘Beverly Hills’ as a prototype, and second the informal areas taking ‘Al-Zahraa’ district a prototype.Keywords: Social sustainability; Neoliberalism; Public spaces; Gated communities.eISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-254
Author(s):  
Grace McQuilten

In the wake of multiple global crises, fears of terrorism, rising nationalistic sentiments globally and the pervasive impacts of gender-based violence in public spaces, contemporary urban cities are permeated with surveillance, anxiety, fear and division. In this context, what role can (and should) public art be playing? This article explores this question in the context of Melbourne, a major metropolitan centre in Australia, which has been ruptured by the multiplying effects of highly publicized episodes of street violence, isolated terrorist attacks, high-profile murders and politically driven narratives about youth gangs. Looking at the work of female artists Maryann Talia Pau, Amy Spiers and Catherine Ryan, and artists from African Australian communities including Ez Deng, Atong Atem and Asia Hassan, the article addresses questions about agency and marginalization for artists working in public space, and considers how marginalized community groups may face barriers to creating artworks that engage directly in mainstream public spaces.


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