The show, called “City At Siege” was a part of Suresh Jayram’s curatorial programme on art engaging with issues around Bangalore City’s development and was the first collaboration between CitySpinning and #1 Shanthi Road.

Some photographs of the show:

12►

Read the story here: link or download it here.

Other projects featured in the story are Jaaga, Blind Boys and also Protospace (a co-working space I have initiated with Meeta Jain).

What is Demonstrating Outdoor Tactics (DOT)?

The DOT (Demonstrating Outdoor Tactics) is a configuration for a mobile cultural space for Bangalore. It will be used for a diverse set of curated artistic and cultural projects proposed by the community of creative-practitioners and amateurs in Bangalore.

Station 1: A construction site in a residential neighbourhood

The first station in the journey of DOT in Bangalore in in Tippasandra.

• Location: http://is.gd/2bCDx, Opp Shishu Griha School, HAL II Stage, New Thippasandra, Bangalore
• Dates: August-September 2009
• Photos: http://is.gd/2o6KL

What is happening now?

Key concepts, ideas and explorations: idea of play (spontaneous, planned), interactive and performative activities (set within neighbourhood contexts), expressions of space making/transforming (camp site, new spaces in house/yards/unused), expression through writings (fiction/knowledge generation/cultural diary), about the neighbourhood ecosystem (exploring representation, drawings, photographing, recording etc.), living systems (garbage/toilet related), nature of open spaces.

Projects and events happening this month at Tippasandra are here.

Notes about the context

Unemployed plots of land dream of things that they can do, how they can look, forms they can take. When they are actively traded and utilized in the market and society, only a narrow range of functions get performed on them. They, on the other hand remain unfilled. The markets binds the land in the roles it wants it to play.This construction site in Thippasandra’s residential neighbourhood belongs to the University Women’s Association, Bangalore (UWAB). The site is temporarily unemployed as the project requires a further infusion of money. UWA is currently working at raising funds to soon be able to resume construction again. In its current state of being temporarily unoccupied, it is dreaming of the roles it can play in the neighbourhood.

The DOT’s being at this site across August and September 09, will be a kind of nomadic urban camping ground, a space which offers refuge, platform, visibility and possibility to a range of conversations initiated by artists, activists, architects, researchers and others. In a way, it is channeling the dreams which the space might have dreamed of and giving form and language to them in different ways.

Curatorial Theme: Children And The City

Dates

From 2:30 to 7:30 p.m., 12th to 20th July, 2009

As unknown, invisible people, is it possible for us to imagine the city in a way, which is less alienating and fragmented? The exhibition looks at the role mobile spaces can play in doing this.

A showcase of design proposals for a mobile cultural space sent by artists and architects form around the world in response to an invitation extended by CitySpinning in January 2009. This process was initiated to understand some ways of using the existing infrastructure in the city in parasitic and symbiotic ways for a decentralized cultural program which is in the midst of where people live, work and play. As part of this process a mobile cultural space called the DOT is being designed.

Spirited Caravans is curated by Prayas Abhinav at CitySpinning [http://cityspinning.org] and designed by Meeta Jain from MapBee [http://mapbee.tumblr.com]. Quintessence Creations Pvt. Ltd.

A preview of the exhibition will be on view for the think-tank participants. The public opening of the exhibition is on the 12th of July at 4:00 p.m.

Concept

Does the city move or do you move around in the city? Maybe, its both. Our cities have become spaces which exude an impersonal, dry and functional energy. To feel at home here, we try to own a patch here and there to hide away, to console ourselves.

This glass, concrete and trash city in the process of becoming, has amassed an infrastructure, a grid which thinks its going to be there forever. Building possibilities which parasitically draws on this to create pockets of parallel realities, has been an interest shared by many people and groups throughout history (gypsies, street performers, circuses, melas). This exhibition proposes some ways of creating these parallel realities. These ways acknowledge the histories of this process but still position them in the world as it as now, with us being the way we are.

The exhibition has fantasies, fictions and journalistic accounts of seeing the city grow out of its indifference and comfortably wear her neighbourhoods as if they were something specific, the people living there having real names, motivations, dreams and aspirations which can be mapped. Spirited Caravans sees the city in a mood which is celebratory, uninhibited, musical and new (but old at the same time).

It is a good chance for cynics of all descriptions to forever lose their cynicism within clouds of possibility. It will give all of us ideas and energy to act upon them as well as maybe unshackle our imaginations from the city map, which reduces everything to a line and dot to actually be one of the dots and change the map forever in our memory.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to comment on aspects of the proposals, annotate in the margin, doodle on the side to guide and contribute to our design process.

Spirited Caravans features design proposals by:

• Amrita Ravimohan & Ekta Idnany [Mumbai, India],
• Azeer Attari & Dominic Anthony [Mumbai, India],
• Benoît Maubrey [Brück, Germany],
• Elina Moreau Braunstein [Sydney,Australia],
• Harry Westbrook & Nash Colundular [London, UK],
• Heron-Mazy Studio (J.P. Maruszczak & Roger Connah  Asst: Ryan Manning) [USA],
• Jelena Grujic and Lea Skrinjar [Novi Sad & Belgrade, Serbia],
• Jimini Hignett [Amsterdam, The Netherlands],
• Joao Caria Lopes [Lisbon, Portugal],
• Joseph Choma [New York, USA],
• Miguel Valério [Amsterdam, The Netherlands],
• Nick Tobier (EverydayPlaces) [Detroit & Ann Arbor, USA],
• Petar Bojovic & Slobodan Krsmanovic [Belgrade, Serbia],
• Shyamanta Shekhar, Harshavardhan, Srinivas, Sujay Kuncham, Vishnuvardhan [India],
• Stewart Hicks & Allison Newmeyer [Illinois, USA]

Where?

Protospace Bangalore
No. 6 MR Garden, 2nd cross KEB Layout,
Sanjay Nagar,
Bangalore 560094
Karnataka
India

Map:

Thanks:
Priyanka Kodikal (design of the invites, poster and graphics)
Malvika Tegta (PR and letting people know)
(more names to be added)

'The Mobility & Culture Think Tank 09' on the 10th and 11th July, 2009

Day 1: Mobile cultural spaces: perspectives, potentials and contexts

> Ten to fifteen artists, designers, thinkers, leaders and multi-disciplinary workers will briefly present their varied perspectives on the context and potential for mobile cultural spaces in Bangalore. An exhibition featuring numerous design proposals for a compact mobile cultural space for Bangalore will be opened at 6:00 p.m.

Day 2: Children & the City: the need, some possible ecosystems and potential uses.

> Ten to fifteen practitioners, educators, philosophers and other working with or for children in Bangalore from different vantage points will articulate how they would like to use a mobile cultural space in Bangalore. These articulations will be absorbed in the design assimilation process before the DOT is made and gifted to its potential users for their projects.

Detailed Schedule: http://cityspinning.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/schedule2.pdf

Venue: Protospace Bangalore, No. 6 MR Garden, 2nd cross KEB Layout, Sanjay Nagar, Bangalore 560094. Link to a map.

Background: Spirited Caravans was initiated as a process to determine how the existing infrastructure in the city could be used in parasitic and symbiotic ways for a decentralized cultural program which is in the midst of where people live, work and play and responds to them in a more direct way. As part of this process a mobile cultural space called the DOT is being designed.

The last few years has seen many efforts in Bangalore to expand the kinds of spaces cultural workers have available to them. We’ve seen the emergence of residency spaces (Bar1, 1shantiroad), artist-run galleries (Samuha), projects in the public spaces of Bangalore (numerous) and to say that there’s been interest among many groups (art, activist, community media…) to seek out alternative spaces which can play an active discursive, expressive and social role will not be a tall claim.

About DOT: The DOT is a mobile cultural space to be used for a diverse set of curated artistic and cultural projects proposed by the community of creative-practitioners and amateurs in Bangalore. It is conceived to be a compact (8’ X 15’) space which can allow small groups (10-15 people) to work on their projects. “Children and the city” will be the broad theme of the proposals selected for happening in the DOT in 2009. The theme will comprise of a series of sub-themes that relate children to urban farming, art education, theatre, craft, astronomy and night sky exploration and urban design. Uses for the DOT will be curated on their responses to these themes and other novel ideas.

Think Tank collaborators and supporters: The Mobility & Culture Think Tank 09 is being jointly organized by CitySpinning, MapBee, Qessencedesigns, Openspace India and Protospace Bangalore.

CitySpinning (initiator) is a series of interventions which propose different configurations and arrangements for social spaces in our cities. In the past interventions designed have dealt with urban farming, alternative cultural spaces, micro-climate research, food crisis, community spaces for street children and other areas. [you are here!]

MapBee in a new initiative, focused to help envision and facilitate the making of mobile architectural forms (including temporary, dismantleable & kinetic structures) suited to a specific cultural or social purpose, through use of relevant design and technology. > Website: http://mapbee.tumblr.com.

Q is working on a novel platform for the design and development of progressive educational toys for children.

Open Space India is an independent, interactive and creative public space where civil society organizations and public-spirited citizens can interact, debate and initiate action on social justice and development issues. > Website: http://openspaceindia.org/

Protospace Bangalore [http://protost.ation.in] is a “shared working space” for independent creative practitioners in the city. The idea is to bring diverse creative individuals under one roof, who in the midst of pursuing their creative goals, can also have a chance to share, and collaborate with each other. This is the first event being organized at the venue, and reflects its emerging curatorial programme.

Living in a country and region with active land-struggles and a history of land-rights movements^ and attempts of land-reform, if land is made available to us for some time, what can we imagine?

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

LAND is available for temporary projects, workshops, conferences, performances, make-shift offices in Bangalore for five days a month. This LAND is available only until August 2009. As an artist, group, community, network or individual if there is a need for flexible temporary space in the city, send your proposal to LAND DREAMS. Your proposal should:

• Introduce yourself or your group.
• Send a note on how some existing space in Bangalore can be re-used, re-purposed for social and cultural purposes.
• Explain (in max 300 words) the temporary land-use you have in mind. If possible, sketch something on the photographs below.
• Please keep these constraints in mind.
  • No permanent changes or structures are possible.
  • The space has to be kept clean.
  • There is no power at the site, everything has to be battery-powered if at all.
  • Collaboration with architects known to us to temporarily shape the space is possible. So, say so if you want to explore this.
  • Night-time projects can’t be noisy.
  • Non-commercial projects of any kind can be proposed.

WHAT?

• Imaginations often need physical space to play out and virtual spaces are just not enough. Spaces used now to meet and talk are expensive coffee shops or restaurants. OUTDOOR SPACES STILL EXIST.
• Using land which is not fully built-up yet is a treat. You will get as much flexibility as you want. Think of what the buildings you sit in and use DON’T allow you to use.
• This call comes as a part of the LAND DREAMS project. “Unemployed plots of land dream of things that they can do, how they can look, forms they can  take. When they are actively traded and utilized in the market and society, only a narrow range of functions get performed on them. They, on the other hand remain unfilled.” Read more at here.
• LAND DREAMS wants to demonstrate alternative and non-commercial uses for surplus and fringe urban spaces in the city. These demonstrations will become urban memories which will be drawn on for a long time to inspire a diverse set of cultural, social and personal uses of the city.

The LAND belongs is the University Women’s Association of Bangalore (UWAB)’s property in New Thippasandra where they are building a hostel for working women. the construction process is temporarily halted due to paucity of funds. The UWAB has offered CitySpinning use of the property till such time that construction commences. UWAB believes in encouraging young talent and hopes to see youth putting there hostel space to good use.

DEADLINE

For using the LAND in July or August please send in your proposals by June 15th July 1st, 2009. Proposals can be e-mailed to land@cityspinning.org.

PROCESS

• Proposals which meet the criteria will be accepted. — By July 12th 2009.
• The teams/individuals behind the selected proposals will be invited to the LAND for a visit, orientation and discussion. — July 14th and 15th, 2009.
• After this the project will be given confirmed dates on which they can use the LAND for their project. — July 16th, 2009.

note: all the dates have been changed after the deadline extension — June 15th, 2009

EXAMPLES:

• Your band doesn’t have a space to practice? The LAND, in the afternoon might be the right place.
• Likewise, this could the ideal space for theatre and film rehearsals, practice and enactment.
• Want to set up some writers studios for the literati of Bangalore? Our architect friends could help you make cheap temporary studio-spaces.
• Want to organize puppet-shows, screen movies, do a neighbourhood meeting about dealing with trash and waste? It can all happen here.
• CitySpinning is using the space for a community-in-the-making, The YourTime Club.
• For interpretive land-use projects around the world see the list of links here: http://is.gd/A4my.

WHERE?

The University Women’s Association, Bangalore (UWAB) property in New Thippasandra. The UWAB’s land is a site for a working women’s hostel. Link to the google map: http://is.gd/rl5p. Some photographs are here:

A CitySpinning, OpenSpace Bangalore and University Women’s Association (UWA) project.

The proposals will be selected by CitySpinning and University Women’s Association (UWA) together.

- – -

^ see http://is.gd/A4dV and http://is.gd/A496.

Proposals were short-listed in April and then every participant was requested to license their proposal under an open-content license before the entries were shared with the world on the web and soon through a print publication and exhibition.

All the proposals short-listed as part of the POROUS CITY process are presented below. More details about the mobile.culture publication will be available soon. All the proposals are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 India License [link].

An exhibition of the proposals and some texts on them is being planned in Bangalore in June (details soon). The DOT will actually be made through a two-part design workshop being planned with Meeta Jain where numerous architects, designers, imaginers and competition participants in India will talk and work together on a functional design for the streets of Bangalore.

The proposals follow:

Amrita Ravimohan & Ekta Idnany

From Mumbai, India for THE DOT MATRIX

The Dot Matrix by Ekta & Amrita, page 1

The Dot Matrix by Ekta & Amrita, page 2

Azeer Attari & Dominic Anthony

From Mumbai, India for KHEL: THE INTERACTIVE LEARNING CART

KHEL, image 1

KHEL, image 2

KHEL, image 3

KHEL, image 4

KHEL, image 5

KHEL, image 6

KHEL, image 7

Benoît Maubrey

From Brück, Germany for CYBER-BIRDS

Cyber-birds: mobile multi-media screens, page 1

Cyber-birds: mobile multi-media screens, page 2

Cyber-birds: mobile multi-media screens, page 3

Elina Moreau Braunstein

From Sydney, Australia for PAVILION

Pavilion (big image)

Harry Westbrook & Nash Colundular

From London, UK for BODY SUIT

Bodysuit, page 1

Body Suit, page 2

Heron-Mazy Studio, J.P. Maruszczak & Roger Connah & Asst: Ryan Manning

From USA for SIX SCRIPTS

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 1

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 2

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 3

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 4

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 5

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 6

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 7

Jelena Grujic and Lea Skrinjar

From Novi Sad & Belgrade, Serbia for PPMT

PPMT, page 1

PPMT, page 2

Jimini Hignett

From Amsterdam, The Netherlands for ART BAR

Art Bar, page 1

Art Bar, page 2

Art Bar, page 3

Art Bar, page 5

Joao Caria Lopes

From Lisbon, Portugal for ART-CLOSET

Art Closet, page 1

Art Closet, page 2

Art Closet, page 3

Art Closet, page 4

Art Closet, page 5

Joseph Choma

From New York, USA for UNTITLED

CHOMA, page 1

CHOMA, page 2

CHOMA, page 3

CHOMA, page 4

Miguel Valério

From Amsterdam, The Netherlands for BALLOON

Balloon, page 1

Balloon, page 2

Balloon, page 3

Balloon, page 4

Balloon, page 5

Balloon, page 6

Nick Tobier

From Detroit & Ann Arbor, USA for CRATE CULTURE

Crate Culture, page 1

Crate Culture, page 2

Crate Culture, page 3

Crate Culture, page 4

Crate Culture, page 5

Crate Culture, page 6

Petar Bojovic & Slobodan Krsmanovic

From Belgrade, Serbia for SILKY RING

Silky Ring, page 1

Silky Ring, page 2

Silky Ring, page 3

Shyamanta Shekhar, Harshavardhan, Srinivas, Sujay Kuncham, Vishnuvardhan

From Bangalore, India for FORUM

Forum, page 1

Forum, page 2

Stewart Hicks & Allison Newmeyer

From Illinois, USA for MOMO

MOMO, page 1

MOMO, page 2

MOMO, page 3

MOMO, page 4

MOMO, page 5

MOMO, page 6

MOMO, page 7

MOMO, page 8

MOMO, page 9

Proposals were short-listed in April and then every participant was requested to license their proposal under an open-content license before the entries were shared with the world on the web and soon through a print publication and exhibition.

All the proposals short-listed as part of the POROUS CITY process are presented below. More details about the mobile.culture publication will be available soon. All the proposals are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 India License [link].

An exhibition of the proposals and some texts on them is being planned in Bangalore in June (details soon). The DOT will actually be made through a two-part design workshop being planned with Meeta Jain where numerous architects, designers, imaginers and competition participants in India will talk and work together on a functional design for the streets of Bangalore.

The proposals follow:

Amrita Ravimohan & Ekta Idnany

From Mumbai, India for THE DOT MATRIX

The Dot Matrix by Ekta & Amrita, page 1

The Dot Matrix by Ekta & Amrita, page 2

Azeer Attari & Dominic Anthony

From Mumbai, India for KHEL: THE INTERACTIVE LEARNING CART

KHEL, image 1

KHEL, image 2

KHEL, image 3

KHEL, image 4

KHEL, image 5

KHEL, image 6

KHEL, image 7

Benoît Maubrey

From Brück, Germany for CYBER-BIRDS

Cyber-birds: mobile multi-media screens, page 1

Cyber-birds: mobile multi-media screens, page 2

Cyber-birds: mobile multi-media screens, page 3

Elina Moreau Braunstein

From Sydney, Australia for PAVILION

Pavilion (big image)

Harry Westbrook & Nash Colundular

From London, UK for BODY SUIT

Bodysuit, page 1

Body Suit, page 2

Heron-Mazy Studio, J.P. Maruszczak & Roger Connah & Asst: Ryan Manning

From USA for SIX SCRIPTS

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 1

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 2

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 3

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 4

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 5

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 6

Six Scripts for a Kite Running Architecture, page 7

Jelena Grujic and Lea Skrinjar

From Novi Sad & Belgrade, Serbia for PPMT

PPMT, page 1

PPMT, page 2

Jimini Hignett

From Amsterdam, The Netherlands for ART BAR

Art Bar, page 1

Art Bar, page 2

Art Bar, page 3

Art Bar, page 5

Joao Caria Lopes

From Lisbon, Portugal for ART-CLOSET

Art Closet, page 1

Art Closet, page 2

Art Closet, page 3

Art Closet, page 4

Art Closet, page 5

Joseph Choma

From New York, USA for UNTITLED

CHOMA, page 1

CHOMA, page 2

CHOMA, page 3

CHOMA, page 4

Miguel Valério

From Amsterdam, The Netherlands for BALLOON

Balloon, page 1

Balloon, page 2

Balloon, page 3

Balloon, page 4

Balloon, page 5

Balloon, page 6

Nick Tobier

From Detroit & Ann Arbor, USA for CRATE CULTURE

Crate Culture, page 1

Crate Culture, page 2

Crate Culture, page 3

Crate Culture, page 4

Crate Culture, page 5

Crate Culture, page 6

Petar Bojovic & Slobodan Krsmanovic

From Belgrade, Serbia for SILKY RING

Silky Ring, page 1

Silky Ring, page 2

Silky Ring, page 3

Shyamanta Shekhar, Harshavardhan, Srinivas, Sujay Kuncham, Vishnuvardhan

From Bangalore, India for FORUM

Forum, page 1

Forum, page 2

Stewart Hicks & Allison Newmeyer

From Illinois, USA for MOMO

MOMO, page 1

MOMO, page 2

MOMO, page 3

MOMO, page 4

MOMO, page 5

MOMO, page 6

MOMO, page 7

MOMO, page 8

MOMO, page 9

“Futuresonic is an annual festival of art, music and ideas. It involves a freeform mix of live events, exhibitions, workshops and talks in up to 30 different venues and spaces across Manchester UK”

So, if you are in that part of the world, you may be able to catch the exhibition besides all the exciting projects and events they have across this week.

One of the panels which is there at the show is below, more pictures and more of the documentation at the show will appear here shortly.

Make Them Love You (MTLY) is a series of hand-painted signs exhibited throughout the city of Chennai that explore the negotiation between interior desires and exterior space.  MTLY uses the sign clusters as an exhibition space to display the artwork of ten participants who were asked to design a sign advertising a personal interior/exterior dialectic exploring notions of celebrity, sacrifice, development, and narcissism.

MTLY is presented by Casa Blanca 2 which is an art gallery based in the city of Chennai, India. We have no physical space of our own, but rather we borrow public space for exhibitions. This effort is to raise a dialogue about access and agency to view and make art, while charging the ordinary proximity between people and place.

For more details contact SHANNON SPANHAKE & PIERRE CONTI at cb2n16@gmail.com.

My sign says, “Food is Now Within Your Reach, Do Not Beg, Borrow or Work for Food…” It seeks to promote neighbourhood urban farming through the CANOPY project and other variations.

Other artists and organizations participating in MTLY are Sarath Babu (Chennai), The Banyan (Chennai), Roxanne Borujerdi (Paris), Casa Blanca 2 AKA Teddy Cruz (Chennai), Roberto Freddi & Jason Moore (London), Jessica Wallack (Chennai), Postmasters Gallery (New York), Revathy (Chennai), S.A.V Elanchezian (Chennai).

The opening is at Art World Gallery 12,Ganeshpuram 3rd Street, (Off Cenotaph Rd.) Teynampet, Chennai. PH: 044 2431 5371 on Saturday,16 May, 2009, 6:30-9:30pm.

Some pictures of my sign being painted at the street-sign-filled streets of Chennai: