extentions

I'll use these photos posted by Claudia to rephrase my proposition together with some self-criticism...

At the beginning, I wanted to use restrictive qualities of zebra crossing as an element of 'paving the way' to the island at Porte de Namur, where I wanted to experiment with extending them to sidewalks too. However, due to my lack of production (I wasn't prepared enough about the choice and supplies of material), of determination (about what to and how to experiment with - e.g. time and rhythm) and of faith into my own proposal (at least enough to put other people into the risk), I easily went with the flow and changed the spot of my proposition in favor of Bourse.
After that point, my intention was to reproduce the zebra crossing dysfunctionally with an aim to underline and question their mode of existence. After a couple of minutes I realised my plan for shifts with the fright of police intervention was unnecessary. But by the time, the group had already taken their initiative, which I find very exciting in terms of becoming public of a proposition. In a similar manner I didn't want to be straightforward about how to extend them, which produced this lovely extension in the above photo leading to the dead-end of the wall.
Another important discovery for me the performative point of the proposition. I was planning of very brief action times for production of extensions and hoped they would be performing for the passerbys. However, during the exercise I realised the process, which provided the interaction with others and their attention was an equally or even more important part of the performance...

COLLECTIVE AFFECTIVITY


Location: Place Luxembourg
Duration: 1 hour


Score: Create a space of contemplation towards an object chosen according to affective forces.

Interest: This practice aims to re-inform the public space through the scenography created towards the affective objects and within the whole constellation of participants.

Reflections:

The collective affectivity leads to a wider understanding and experimentation of an affect for an object and tries to decode which are the strategies used to get information from the object selected and the quality of each process.

Empty points: Which are the forces that generate this affectivity? How do we connect with the affective object? How do objects ask for an action towards them? Which type of responsibility do we have towards objects then?

Map of the former Firsh Market

Create a map of this location indicating the following:
1. the land or the food resources area
2. the food supply chain
3. the markets
4. the supermakets
5. the table settings
6. the waste system
7. the kitchens

In today's exercises (9/11, no less), we experimented with different ways of occupying public spaces, some of which made us incredibly visible and some others incredibly invisible. Robin's proposition affected the space of the tunnel completely: New sounds and new rhythms were established in the public space which sparked the curiosity of all passersby, some of which simply avoided us, others observed, while very few others, guided by curiosity, eventually took part in the practice in their own capacity. I think it was interesting to see how, after trying to generate this inoculated "bubble" around us, finding the woman in the photo cabin at the end returned us all to the unavoidability of the actual "noise" around us. The feeling of togetherness was, however, diminished during Stef's exercise in the galleries of the queen, where each of us had to find our own way of interacting with the space and the people around us. The experience changed for me at the moment when I began to hear Robin whistling, which made the trajectory smoother and more homy. The encounter with the police revealed at the end the limits of certain spaces in the city, which is not equally public or protected anywhere we go. During Maite's exercise, I walked around the square looking for an object of affection and wasn't able to find one, which made me reflect on the aseptic character of the space. People who come and go without dwelling, a micro-scenario of a mega-city where everyone is just in transit. In a way, I felt more the transit in that space than in the subway tunnel: it was a space that didn't belong to anyone. I sat there, with my bag, which at the end is an extension of my own body and without which I feel naked, and just observed. The man who asked me what I was doing didn't seem to understand the exercise, but I felt that there was a space within that no-man's land that belonged to me, as long as I had my little rug and my things arranged on it.

Yet, regardless of the specific character of the places, I did feel like they had become our own stage.

The Queen's Galleries...

scenografy by necessity

using the marks which already existing in space
here: the red line on the floor
the map on the wall
the logic box on the side 
the patterns on the wall
creating a space
for yourself

as the fallen women in the fotobox yesterday
reusing the 3 to 5minute box for physical reproduction 
after the shoot

by chance or choice?

falling out of the box
with your open belongings
falling out of your bag
which is fallen out of the box
a quasi hidden place


re -invention by need 
a transformatory practice?

Just a sharing

Here I wanted to share the introduction text for the speech Judith Butler is going to give in İstanbul this sunday. I find the questions proposed highly related with the issues we are coming up with and especially in terms of my own research:
"The freedom of assembly is a basic right, but how is it to be understood? How is the freedom of assembly related to the freedom of expression? The right of assembly cannot be asserted by a single person, so how do we understand the plurality that makes that claim? It seems that "the people" assert the right of assembly, but who decides who "the people" are?  And how do actual assemblies change our idea of what it means to assert a right?  Rights are not only asserted vocally, but also enacted with movement, stillness, gesture, and silence. Indeed, there can be no freedom of assembly without bodily enactments, including speech. Consequently, we have to rethink the bodily forms in which this right is enacted. And though modes of assembly and solidarity are at once embodied and virtual, the very idea of assembly presupposes that bodies act together. What kind of right is that which is enacted bodily, and who are the people who enact this right? Are these "the people"?"

Note: I am sorry that I wasn't able to add a word to the blog last night but I have completely fallen asleep.

The Creation of We, Them and Us

During the practice today, Robin, Maite and Stef  brought attention to how we create the notion of we, them and us in public space.

In Robin’s exercise we walked slowly through the subway pathway with cups, in constant movement, over our ears. Three people made white noise with megaphones, while recording white noise sound, four people were walking and listening, as well as one person filming.  We became a spectacle, a group of people that other people in the subway did not intervene or talk to us. I think in the terms of that exercise we did not understand the space we were in. We created a new milieu within the backdrop of the subway path. How could have people access our practice? Take part in our study of noise? In one way, I felt we could have been in a gallery or museum context. Where information of what we were doing could have been handed out. The purpose of the public space, a space people rush through is, in one way, a pity when Robin has quite a lot of research for the viewer to take part in, information that might make the viewer more included in the experiment of understanding space and noise?  

Stef took us to Queen’s Galleria, a space where we examined sound in the this particular space. We were encouraged to melt in with the people around us and just tune in to the sound. The galleria is built with an atrium that creates a beautiful echo and soundscape, which reminded me of a opera house. The space as such is filled with luxury shopping and tourists having expensive coffee. The soundscape was oozing international luxury, high heels against the stone floor, suitcases with little wheels and languages from around the world. I walked by a sign that announced that the Galleria was under camera surveillance.

      The last practice of the day was directed by Maite, she led us to Place de Luxembourg for a hour’s contemplation. With our pre-made paper carpets we marked out our space for contemplations. I faced the EU parliaments main entrance since I lacked a object to contemplate. I was interrupted two times during my practice by a curious stranger and security guards. Otherwise I had a peaceful moment. I not sure what purpose the marked up space filled more than letting my surroundings know I was doing something out of the ordinary, and maybe that was just purpose enough? A little interruption in the everyday scene, and a place for people to create a narrative or give a fictitious purpose to my practice.