URBAN ATLAS GUIDE
PROJECT
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The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. - Marcel Proust
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INTRODUCTION THE URBAN ATLAS PROJECT + THE GUIDE
About: The Urban Atlas Project is an archive of narratives around urban development as seen through a Five Lenses Approach of Stories, Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Networks and Imaginaries. It serves as a platform for local artists, residents and youth to critically investigate, unearth and imagine the ways in which processes and effects of urban development impact their everyday life. As our guiding tool, the Urban Atlas Guide uses our Five Lens Approach to expose Urban Atlas Project participants to creative methods and tools pulled from various artists, social scientists, activists, community organizations and more. By utilizing these tools and reframing their context for urban investigations Urban Atlas Project participants can unearth the past, reveal the present and imagine the future of their city.
In this Guide: Project Examples: A selection of projects by artists, designers, organizations, social scientists and activists that used creative methods during their process or in the way the content was communicated.
Method Exercises: We introduce various methods, their descriptions, steps required to perform, the tools needed as well as the learning outcome.
Seeing Through The Lenses: We provide suggested lenses by which each method can be viewed.
www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
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“When excitement about subject matter goes deep, it stirs up a store of attitudes and meanings derived from prior experience. As they are aroused into activity they become conscious thoughts and emotions, emotionalized images. - John Dewey
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URBAN ATLAS GUIDE
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THE FIVE LENSES A METHOD OF INVESTIGATING THE URBAN
BOUNDARIES
STORIES
NETWORKS
POWER DYNAMICS
IMAGINARIES
About: We were interested in looking at the social, the physical, the political, the historical, the cultural and the economic in a more accessible, open yet critical way. These lenses do not restrict us to one particular way or form of seeing but guide us through constructing narratives that considers the past, the present and the future of our neighborhoods. These lenses are meant to help weave out the dualities or multiplicities of the everyday. The critical aspect comes from allowing ourselves to question what matters the most to us.
Our Definitions: Stories: An account of imaginary or real people and events
Power Dynamics: Are the relationships of forces that produce change.
Boundaries: The borders or limits of an area
Networks: An interconnected group or system
Imaginaries: A desired set of shared goals, ideas and value about the future
www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
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WHAT ARE OUR CONCERNS? CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING
About the Exercise: This method of research often takes the form of a group of people focusing the attention of a wider group of people on some cause or condition. Through this exercise individual feelings and experiences be revealed as collective feelings and experiences. Informing the general public of a collective concern is often the first step to changing how the institutions handle it, raising awareness is often the first activity advocacy groups focus on. Even when done with a group of friends or neighbors this exercise can bring to light common concerns and be the first step to addressing it.
What you need: - note pad + pencil - voice recorder (cell phone) - a common concern - people (this can be a group friends!)
- a place to meet (parks, quiet areas, restaurants, your home)
Actions: A. Identify a common issue or concern in your neighborhood common issues that can be discussed are urban development, conflicts, movements, political parties or politicians to name a few. B. Organize a meeting to discuss this concern with general public this can be a picnic, brunch or round table meeting.
Lens: Stories, Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: What are our concerns? Who is this concern affecting and where is it happening? How can it be better addressed? What would you like to see happen?
Learning Objective Critical thinking, awareness of common desires, developing arguments, critiquing current conditions 6
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WOMANHOUSE Feminist Art Collective
About the Project:
1972 - Los Angeles, California
Womanhouse (30 January - 28 February 1972) was a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, cofounders of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Feminist Art Program. Chicago, Schapiro, their students and women artists from the local community participated. Chicago and Schapiro encouraged their students to use consciousness-raising techniques to generate the content of the exhibition and address issues produced by male-dominated societal ideologies.
Photo by David Fenton/Getty Images
Actions: A. Identified women’s issues and criticisms of patriarchy within a male dominant society as a common concern. B. The collective organized discussions in private areas and studio spaces.
Lenses: STORIES: The session revealed common feminist ideologies. BOUNDARIES: The boundaries created through gender were made clear and the space (an abandoned mansion) shows the perceived boundary of the role of women as being tied solely to the home. POWER DYNAMICS: Power dynamics between men and women. NETWORKS: Like-minded participants reveals a network of women. IMAGINARIES: Collective imaginaries towards challenging patriarchy. For more info about this project visit: http://womanhouse.refugia.net/
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WHAT’S REALLY ON THIS BLOCK? DRAWING
About the Exercise: This method of research uses drawing as a way of looking at the block you see in your neighborhood everyday in an alternative way. The goal of the exercise is to simply look at the building, its functions, who it may be serving and why it is located in a particular place. The analysis of this exercise allows you to see the network of places influencing the identity of your neighborhood. You can begin to see the services that are present and the ones that are not. Revisiting the buildings you often see through drawing can help uncover patterns (laundromats, fast food, pawn shops) and imagine the things you would like to see instead.
What you need: - clipboard - paper - a pencil, a marker or a pen - 3-5 blocks in your neighborhood
Actions: A. Identify 3-5 blocks in your neighborhood (business areas work really well) B. On a sheet of paper draw the buildings with a pen or marker (make sure to mark the street name in the to corner with an arrow for the direction you are walking toward) C. Look at all your buildings and write the function below it (ex. pawn shop, bodega, bank, flower shop, electronics store, laundromat)
Lens: Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: Do you see patterns of things represented on your block? Is there something missing? Who lives in the area? Who controls what goes where? What would you want this block to be?
Learning Objective Critical thinking, identifying patterns, classifying building uses, sketch from observation 8
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103 - 106 ST. ON 3RD AVE The Urban Atlas Project - Sabrina Dorsainvil
About the Project:
2013 - East Harlem, New York
While investigating businesses and commercial areas of East Harlem drawing the buildings became an alternative form of looking. Each drawing showed physical outlines of each building but underneath each the use or function was written. People often say they “know� they are in a particular area of the city because of the things they see at the street level. This exercise of drawing the buildings first then paying attention to its use allowed her to slow down and see what was really on the block and to inform ideas around what each business was projecting onto the identity of the place.
Courtesy of Sabrina Dorsainvil
Actions: A. East Harlem, 103rd Street to 106th Street along 3rd Ave B. Walking uptown and drawn on 5x7 index cards with pink fine tip sharpie and a blue pen C. Electronic stores, fast food chains, vacant buildings, 99 cent store and more
Lenses: STORIES: The commercial areas often cater to a specific population of people, responds to a demand, or is targeted at a group of potential users. This relates back to the narrative of a place seeing the way cultural or economic interests play out on the street. NETWORKS: While looking at the list of places on the draw blocks networks of pawn shops and fast food restaurants were identified. IMAGINARIES: Looking at areas with vacant spaces or areas under construction can give space to considering future functions and imaging the spaces to be used in service of residents. For more info about this project visit: www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
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WHAT’S OUR STORY? STORYTELLING
About the Exercise: This exercise acts as a guided narrative and a conversation starter. Participants are led through a semi-constructed story that leaves room for their input. As a storytelling tool it aids in uncovering both their own thoughts and their perceptions about the way their neighborhood is viewed. The guiding words should aid the story but not lead the participants into answering a specific answer (remember it should still be their story). If this is done with a group of residents a debrief session can help bring together greater common threads and thoughts about the neighborhood. This can be used to look at all five lenses separately, paired up or altogether. The task of the person constructing the story is to choose the focus. (Luckily, we have attached an example of what they look like all together)
What you need: - lens inspired fill-in the blank narrative (open with a “my name is”) - printed narrative sheets - pencils or pens
Actions: A. Create a one page fill in the blanks story line around a topic(lens). Consider giving it a title! B. In either a group or 1 on 1 ask participants to individually fill in the blanks C. Depending on time and size of group, organize a safe space for reflection. Share your stories and see what answers you all came up with
Lens: Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: What are the stories, boundaries, power dynamics, networks and imaginaries? “If my neighborhood could speak it would say...” “Some envision my neighborhood to be...” “I truly want my neighborhood to be...” “My neighborhood sometimes speaks of changes. Some of which are...”
Learning Objective Self reflection, critical thinking, reasoning, state theories, identify changes, describe neighborhood and conditions 10
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MY FOOD STORY The People’s Kitchen Oakland
About the Project:
2013 - New York, New York
The People’s Kitchen is a sliding-scale, local, organic, community restaurant project that engages, builds and nourishes community through shared-food events and sexy, social and cultural programming. They use food and recipes as a tool for storytelling and reclaiming community knowledge. They believe that sharing food and building community knowledge are key to the process of decolonization. The food story served as a conversation starter between restaurant visitors at the COLORS restaurant in New York.
Courtesy Brooklyn Museum and Creative Time
Actions: A. Story about food entitled “My Food Story” B. Blanks included, name, childhood memories of food, favorite food, hometown/country, and other personal reflection questions about the individual and their relationship to food C. Participants were able to see what foods they had in common and identify cross-culture food connections
Lenses: STORIES: The development of the story itself urged people to recollect food memories. These questions alluded to ideas of health, senses, nostalgia, and the production of food. NETWORKS: The debriefing session paired groups of two together to tell their stories to one another. During this session connections could be drawn between the two participants. IMAGINARIES: A portion of the story referenced future actions that could be taken in regards to health and food preparation skills that could be passed on to youth. For more info about this project visit: http://www.peopleskitchen510.org/
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THE THINGS WE HOLD ON TO... OBJECTS OF MEMORY
About the Exercise: The personal artifacts we hold on to have a significantly important relationship to our memory. Objects can be associated to a person from your past and reveal moments that you might have an intimate relationship with. The artifact reveals stories that are are not associated with the object’s primary function. For this exercise, participants are asked to think back on their personal history and identify an object that has a story byond what is assumed. Sharing these stories by presenting the object and writing about its history can become a way to bring a group of personal stories together.
What you need: - a group of people (friends, neighbors, family) - a member that acts as collector - personal artificats
- pen - paper
Actions: A. Engaging with the community B. Collecting memories through personal artifacts C. Find a way to show participants the collection
Lens: Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: What personal stories can you reflect on that bring awareness to a current issue that is being faced by you as an individual or as part of a collective?
Learning Objective Formulating ideas and stories around a personal object
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SKIN OF MEMORY Suzanne Lacy + Pilar Riaño
About the Project:
1998-1999 - Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Residents of Barrio Antioquia, in Medellin Colombia, and a group of local organizations invited Colombian anthropologist Pilar Riaño and Suzanne Lacy to produce a public art project to recreate a lost sense of community through art, celebration, and fostered interaction. Engagement and input from the community was vital so meetings with residents, artists, anthropologists and activists were held to design the project. Over the course of several months, a paid team of residents led by youth interviewed over one third of the total number of families in the neighborhood to collect objects loaded with personal memories for display in a temporary “Museo arqueologico del Barrio Antioquia.”
Photo: Carlos Sanchez
Actions: A. Engaging with the community to hear their personal stories and to collectively design the project B. Local residents conducted interviews collected personal artifacts that spoke to their stories C. Artifacts were curated in a mobile bus
Lenses: STORIES: The collective and individual memories that have been suppressed by official histories form the narrative of the project. BOUNDARIES: The collection of personal artifacts that speak to personal memories take on a new context when presented in a public setting. POWER DYNAMICS: The mobile/ nomadic exhibition space allows for immediate access by the community; an access that is often denied because of the strong control of gangs and narcotic groups. NETWORKS: The collection of memories through personal artifacts ties a community of people together through this very collection. For more info about this project visit: http://www.suzannelacy.com/early-works/#/skin-of-memory/
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TELL ME YOUR STORY PARTICIPATORY PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
About the Exercise: Storytelling allows for you to represent history, personal narratives, political commentaries and the evolving culture we encounter everyday. Private conversations can be held prior to the public storytelling to create a framework and collective narrative about the issues explored. The planning process is vital because the content for the public performances is derived from the previous sessions.
What you need: - a group of people - a public space - stories to share
Actions: A. Identify a divrse group of community residents B. Engage with the community of people working around a common topic/issue C. Set up sessions (the amount can vary) for discussion around the issue being explored C. Engage the public by opening up the conversation in public space
Lens: Stories, Boundaries, Networks
Questions: What issues are being explores? How do these issues impact you on an individual level? How do these issues impact a group of people?
Learning Objective Ability to contruct a common narrative around collective issues and concerns
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BETWEEN THE DOOR AND THE STREET Suzanne Lacy
About the Project:
2013 - Brooklyn , New York
Between the Door and the Street grew out of a series of deep and wideranging conversations between Lacy and a group of activist women, held over the course of five months. Lacy considers this preparatory work to be a key part of the project as a whole, and their ideas, expertise, and principles informed the project. (Creative Time)
Courtesy Brooklyn Museum and Creative Time
Actions: A. The project began with a series of conversations between the artist and a group of activist women B. Topics of interest included memory and gender politics and were explored through a series of conversations C. The content that came out of sessions make the basis for the public conversations
Lenses: STORIES: The conversations held reveal stories and memories of gender politics through a diverse range of ages, backgrounds and perspectives. BOUNDARIES: Engaging in intimate discussions and conversation in public space interrupts the boundary between public and private space. The performance, sponsored in part by the Brooklyn Museum, took place beyond the physical boundaries of the institution and allowed for diverse audience to take part in the happening. NETWORKS: The conversations between the participants create a network of individuals discussing issues around gender politics. For more info about this project visit: http://www.suzannelacy.com/between-the-door-and-the-street/
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LET’S MAKE RELATIONSHIPS VISIBLE SOCIO-GRAM
About the Exercise: This method is used to visually map relationships and lines of communications between different individuals, local groups and government entities. It allows the participants to visually see the alliances and collaborations that are formed through strong relations while also highlighting relationships that might need further strengthening. The exercise also asks the participants to identify ways in which the relationships can grow and how the strategies could be implemented to create a mutually beneficial partnership.
What you need: - group of people - three different types of string or yarn (fragile, normal, strong) - colored balloons
- sharpies - a type of adhesive
Actions: A. Identify the various actors that have a stake in your neighborhood and assign them a colored balloon B. Plan an arrangement depending on how the group feels the relationships play out (the further away from you, the weaker the relationship C. Connect the balloons with the string that relates to the type of relationship or communication that exists
Lens: Networks, Power Dynamics, Imaginaries
Questions: What stakeholders are present in my neighborhood? Do I have any connection to them? What collective strategies can we implement to further connections with our organization?
Learning Objective Identify key stakeholders in your neighborhood. Develop mutually beneficially strategies for collaboration 16
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TRUEQUE DE AMOR Corporación Cultural Nuestra Gente, Santa Cruz Visible-Parsons
About the Project:
2013 - Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia
Working towards the goal of an economic solidarity network, the exercise, “Trueque de Amor,” or, exchanges of love asked community members to identify actors, strategies, and specific actions that can made these strategies come to life, emphasis was placed on the question of “how?” What was uncovered was a frenetic, chaotic and deep production of knowledge; with clusters of activities, the negotiation of space and knowledge through movement all weaving themselves to embody the interconnected ecologies of a city.
Actions: A. The group identified individuals and organizations (government, local orgs) B. Balloons were used to write the actors in the collective socio-gram C. Three different types of string were used to represent the types of relationships that exist (strong material= strong relationship, weak material = weak relationship D. The proximity to each other further emphasized the relationships explored
Lenses: Networks: The exercise not only reveals the relationships present or not present, its also begins to create an network or strategies and actions that can assist in the realization of stronger connections. Power Dynamics: The strong, normal and weak relationships and lines of communications begin to visualize a hierarchy of control. Imaginaries: Being aware of the actors that you have weak ties with provides the space to envision future strategies for engagement.
For more info about this project visit: http://dsgnagnc.com/santa-cruz-visible/
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MAPPING CONNECTIONS MAPPING SYSTEMS
About the Exercise: This is a method that is used to analyze the communication of content. This content could be in the form of a speech, written text, interviews, a statement of needs or images. Read through the document you have selected to analyze and come up with a coding system. The coding system will allow you to visualize the stakeholders that are present, the exchanges and relationships of the stakeholders as well as the outcomes of actions.
What you need: - text (speeches, interviews, property deeds, newspaper articles ect.) - pens (various colors) - pencils
Actions: A. Select an existing document from which to work with. Examples can be newspaper articles, a neigborhood statement of needs, B. Document
Lens: Stories, Power Dynamics, Networks
Questions: Who is the author of the content? Who is the audience ? What are the actions, relationships or exchanges? Why was this written?
Learning Objective Organize and classify information
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SHAPOLSKY ET AL. MANHATTAN REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS, A REAL TIME SOCIAL SYSTEM, AS OF MAY 1, 1971 Hans Haacke About the Project:
1971, New York
In one of his best-known works, Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, A Real Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971, Haacke took on the real-estate holdings of one of New York City’s biggest slum landlords. The work exposed, through meticulous documentation and photographs, the questionable transactions of Harry Shapolsky’s real-estate business between 1951 and 1971. His work made an issue of the business and personal connections of the museum’s trustees and was canceled on the grounds of artistic impropriety by the museum’s director six weeks before the opening.
Courtesy of the Artist
Actions: A. Identified an individual’s real-estate holdings to analyze B. Documented properties through notes and photographs C. Analyzed documents relating to properties D. Mapped business and personal relationships in regards to property holdings
Lenses: STORIES: Using property data from New York public records, Haacke revealed a story of ownership and control of urban space by an individual affiliated with the Guggenheim, a powerful institution POWER DYNAMICS: The research reveals power dynamics at various scales; the individual mindset of someone viewing the city as an economic product as well as revealing his ties to an institutional space. NETWORKS: Haacke’s investigation revealed obscure family ties with the control and ownership of property in Manhattan.
For more info about this project visit: http://whitney.org/Collection/HansHaacke
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ERASING BOUNDARIES ERASURE
About the Exercise: This method of investigation allows you to manipulate an existing text, image or map by erasing elements from the original piece to alter its context and reveal alternative perspectives. Erasure is most commonly used in creating found poetry, but the method can transcend the realm of writing and be applied to the representation of the urban through maps; erasing borders, streets, boundaries and continent limits, begin to re-frame the context in which we see the original map. This method can be used to re-imagine various types of maps like an atlas, a topography map, a zoning map, or an ecological map, to name a few.
What you need: - an existing map - a creative type of eraser (marker, scissors, white-out)
Actions: A. Use an existing map of your neighborhood produced by city agencies B. Using an eraser tool, begin to erase lines that create borders, boundaries and limits C. Draw over the erased map to create a new context and way of seeing the map
Lens: Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Imaginaries
Questions: Who created the map? What does the map represent? What story does it tell? How are physical, economic, or political maps represented?
Learning Objective Analysis of different types of maps, re-imagining
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WORLD MAP; PLAISPHERE Agustina Woodgate
About the Project:
2011 - Miami, Florida
Rather than nations or countries taking precedence as the visual anchor, the Earth as a whole becomes the primary focus. From the violent, aggressive gesture of erasing political borders and imagined national spaces, Woodgate offers a signal of hope: an optimistic realization of a world both beautiful to behold and comforting to imagine.
Courtesy the artist
Actions: A. Collected different sources depicting the world map (globe, print atlas) B. Using sandpaper, Woodgate erases the borders that have been established
Lenses: BOUNDARIES: Through the artist’s process of stripping down the visual representation of borders and land masses, political and geographic divisions no longer declare themselves but suggest delicate traces of abstract forms. POWER DYNAMICS: Agustina challenges the dower dynamics that are at play in the creation of an official atlas or globe. IMAGINARIES: Woodgate’s piece is an inversion of an atlas where the established divisions have been eradicated and distinctions have been completely neutralized.
For more info about this project visit: http://agustinawoodgate.com/
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THE PRIVATE MADE PUBLIC PUBLIC INTERVENTION
About the Exercise: This exercise uses a survey as an intial fram to build many layers of not only quantitative information, but also qualitative. For this exercise (it can be done individually or in a group), come up with a list of curiosities you have about your neighbrhood or city as a whole. Questions can range from asking resident’s preferred mode of transportation, to asking how much residents pay for their rent.
What you need: - public space - post- its - a marker + a pen - camera for documentation
Actions: A. Brainstorm questions or prompts to engage the public in B. Locate a site in your neighborhood where there is space for engagement and participation from the community C. Make sure to have examples of responses to the promt or question that is being asked
Lens: Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: Is there anything you want to voice your concern or opinion on? Is there is a collective experience we can unearth through an intervention that engages the public?
Learning Objective Self Reflection; creating networks
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NOTES FOR NEIGHBORS Candy Chang, Installation assistance by Kay Cheng.
About the Project:
2008 - storefront window, Brooklyn, NY
“Inspired by Illegal Art’s To Do project, Candy Chang covered a Brooklyn storefront window with Post-it notes stamped with specific fill-in-theblank forms to ask her neighbors how much they pay for their apartments. By the end of the week, the window was transformed into a collection of housing information created by and relevant to the community.
Courtesy the artist
Actions: A. Selected a site for your public intervention B. Prepared the site for the installation C. Provided the template for the public to engage and contribute to
Lenses: STORIES: Individual stories about the harsh realities of affordability become collective stories that are accessible for public engagement through the realm of public space. NETWORKS: The project unites a local community around the ever present issue of housing affordability in the city. The project not only highlights a pressing concern in many neighborhoods, it also create a space where local knowledge can be shared and exchanged. IMAGINARIES: The project becomes an entry point into further investigating alternatives by which to combat housing costs. For more info about this project visit: http://candychang.com/post-it-notes-for-neighbors-2/
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WHAT IS THAT REALLY SAYING? DETOURNEMENT
About the Exercise: This method utilizes the artistic practice of taking elements from a well known media source and reusing it to create a new piece with a different meaning. The re-appropriation of the original image, text or object makes it so that it looses its original value and is looked at through a different perspective to tell a different story or reveal moments of the story that are not being shown. For this exercise, participants are asked to create a visual story through the appropriation of existing iconography.
What you need: - media sources (advertisements, newspapers, logos, photographs) - scissors - a marker + a pen
- glue or tape
Actions: A. Select a well known media source B. Question the audience it is directed to and the story it is projecting C. Alter the original source by removing certain elements d. Draw, write, or collage new elements to the original source to have it project a different story
Lens: Stories, Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Networks
Questions: What is the role of media and advertising in our city? How is it used to explot certain populations? How can we re-define the role of media and who it serves?
Learning Objective Critical thinking
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(UN) BRANDED REFLECTIONS IN BLACK BY CORPORATE AMERICA 1968-2008 Hank Willis Thomas
About the Project:
2005-2008
This project is a series of images appropriated from magazine and advertisements that are marketed towards an African-American audience or feature black subjects. Thomas has digitally removed the text and logos; no other part of the image has been altered. By ‘unbranding’ these advertisements the artist literally exposes what Roland Barthes refers to as “what goes without saying: in ads, in hopes of encouraging viewers to look harder and think more deeply about how advertising reinforces generalizations around race, gender and cultural identity.
Courtesy the artist
Actions: A. Selected images from media advertisements targeting an African-American audience B. Removed the text from the advertisements C. Arranged the photographs
Lenses: STORIES: The images being appropriated by the artist depict a story of African Americans and their cultural identity as seen through media advertisements. BOUNDARIES: The removal of an type of text or language forces the viewer to be aware of the types of associations that are made through these powerful tool. It can exclude or emphasize populations of people. POWER DYNAMICS: The project reveals the strong control advertisements have in creating generalizations about certain populations.
For more info about this project visit: http://hankwillisthomas.com/2008/Unbranded/1/
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LET’S REFLECT TOGETHER DIY MEMORIAL
About the Exercise: A memorial is erected for the purpose of remembering and reflecting on the memory of a certain individual or event. As a group, identify a moment in your neighborhood’s past or recent history that you want to memorialize through a do it yourself approach. You can identify a public space that is heavily circulated by people so as to engage as many passersby as possible. You can also select the site of a particular event or the home of an individual you want to remember and have the passersby share their emotions or stories in relation to the event or person.
What you need: - a public space - everyday materials
Actions: A. Identify a public space for your public intervention C. Create a project description and instructions on how to participate B. Provide materials for engagement
Lens: Stories, Networks
Questions: Who identifies what is worthy to be memorialized? How can we provided a space for reflection? What types of events, moments in history, or individuals are usually memorialized and why?
Learning Objective Self Reflection, redefine the perceived idea of a memorial
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INTERACTIVE 9/11 STREET ART MEMORIAL Illegal Art Collective
About the Project:
2011 - New York, New York
The project was an impromptu 9/11 memorial on Fifth Avenue this morning using cups, chalk, and good old NYC sidewalk. A sign explaining the installation, which starts at 14th Street and continues for almost ten blocks up the avenue, says that a group called “Illegal Art” has marked each of the 110 floors of the World Trade Center in chalk, heading north for 1,368 feet, the height of the taller of the two towers. “Passersby, like yourself, are encouraged to walk the height of the once standing buildings along 5th Avenue and write any words that express your feelings or experience related to 9/11.”
Courtesy of @drewconway
Actions: A. 5th Avenue B. Encouraged people to walk the height of the once standing buildings and write words that express feelings or experiences related to 9/11 C. Chalk, cups
Lenses: STORIES: This project allows for memories and personal narratives to be integrated into a collective story of feelings around the terrorist attacks of September 11th. The marking of the 110 floors the World Trade Center allows for the passerby to understand the scale of the building as a walkable plane, but more importantly, it memorializes the feelings and personal narratives that were associated with the tragic event. NETWORKS: The act of writing feelings and memories associated with the 9/11 attacks create a network of individuals who are connected through their feelings of anger, lose, sadness or frustration.
For more info about this project visit: http://gothamist.com/2011/09/09/interactive_911_street_art_memorial.php#photo-5
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MAKING PRIVATE MOMENTS HEARD PERSONAL TESTIMONIES + PROJECTIONS
About the Exercise: A personal testimony is based on personal experiences or personal knowledge about a situation or issue. Sometimes, one of the best ways to make an issue known is to have the people most affected reveals their personal accounts to the public. The exercise of revealing personal testimonies can be used at a neighborhood scale to talk about everyday conditions that are created because of a larger system of control. Gathering individuals to talk about their story and recording their narrative creates both a space for personal reflection and space for archiving. Depending on the technology that is available for the exercise, you can choose to project the reordings after the conversations have been completed and edited or in real time. The recordings can be projected in a public pace that is connected to the testimonies of the participants.
What you need: - individuals willing to contribute personal stories around a specific condition - recorder
- projector - public space on which to project
Actions: A. Organize a session with a group of individuals willing to share their personal testimonies B. Collectively discuss public space on which to project the recordings that will take place. C. Set up an adequate space for recording D. Record sessions
Lens: Stories, Boundaries, Power Dynamics
Questions: What do your stories reveal in regards to the boundaries that are faced? Who are the stakeholders in your narrative? What is their relationship to you as an individual or collective within your story?
Learning Objective Self Reflection, conscioussness raising
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TIJUANA PROJECTION Interrogative Design Group
About the Project:
2001 - San Diego, United States + Tijuana, Mexico
The project’s purpose was to give voice and visibility to the women who work in the “maquiladora” industry in Tijuana, through progressive technology and media. The women’s testimonies focused on a variety of issues including work related abuse, sexual abuse, family disintegration, alcoholism, and domestic violence. These problems were shared live by the participants, in a public plaza on two consecutive nights, for an audience of more than 1,500 with projections on the 60-foot diameter facade of the Omnimax Theater at the Centro Cultural Tijuana.
Courtesy Interrogative Design Group
Actions: A. Identify a group of people who share a common issue B. Record their stories in a private space C. Using real-time technology and projection as a tool, the stories are made public in an outdoor plaza
Lenses: STORIES: The piece brings together the personal stories of women working in a specific industry in Tijuana, Mexico. Their testimonies reveal the ‘real’ conditions of working in the industry, a reality that is often times never spoken about. BOUNDARIES: personal and private boundaries are dissolved when the women participating in the piece give voice a large population of women who are inflicted with work related abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence. POWER DYNAMICS: The Ominimax Theater at the Centro Cultural Tijuana has become symbolic because of its infrastructural achievements. Through the public projections, the women gain agency in exposing their injustices. For more info about this project visit: http://www.interrogative.org/projects/2001/tijuana-cecut-projection
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MAPPING THE FUTURE, NOW COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS + MAPPING
About the Exercise: Working with an inter-disciplinary team is a method to be able to gain various perspectives about a certain issue at hand. Each member of the team brings with them a particular set of skills and knowledge that can compliment the rest of the group and result in unexpected and creative alternatives. Using a neighborhood’s statement of needs, the inter-disciplinary collective can choose a need that has been identified and begin a process of research by interviewing neighborhood stakeholders. From these conversations, the interdisciplinary team will work together to propose design solutions to some of the most critical needs of the community they are a part of.
What you need: - a team of individuals with various disciplines - a community to engage with - maps of the neighborhood
- tape recorder - notebook - pen - markers
Actions: A. Identify a team to work with from your neighborhood B. Engage in conversations with local stakeholders C. Document through recording or taking notes D. Analyze findings as a group E. Collective imagine future possibilities
Lens: Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: Who are the local stakeholders? What are the community needs? Are they being met? If not, why?
Learning Objective Collaborative working, confidence in engaging with your community
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CORONA STUDIO: TRANSFORMING CORONA PLAZA Queens Museum + Queens College of the City University of New York
About the Project:
2012 - Corona, Queens, New York
This cross-disciplinary class combined the history and theory of social practice art with aspects of urban research and design. Art students collaborated with social science students to uncover the needs of various stakeholders in the Queens community of Corona and to apply their findings towards the community conversation surrounding a planned redesign of Corona Plaza.
Courtesy of SPQ and Change Administration
Actions: A. Selected a team of students from different disciplines (art + social sciences) B. Identified stakeholders in the community C. Engagement, through conversations D. Analyzed findings E. Used findings to map and design the future of the space
Lenses: STORIES: Uncovering the needs of Corona Queens stakeholders through research on demographics and local politics. NETWORKS: The Corona Studio Project fosters the coming together or students in studio art and urban studies IMAGINARIES: The space that is created by the collaborations allows for youth to critically engage and ask questions about their neighborhood with the hopes of imagining future scenarios and solutions to the questions identified.
For more info about this project visit: http://www.queensmuseum.org/social-practice-queens/
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SHARING IS CARING BARTERING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
About the Exercise: The idea of bartering is when individuas or groups of people exchange goods, services, or knowledge in exchange for other goods or services without the use of money. This exercise is ment to discuss the possibilities of interdependence among a group and what that means. As participants of the exercise, everyone is asked to bring a disposable object that they own and write a journal entry or poem about the piece. As a group, members will collectively agree on a code of conduct and rules for echange and engagement with the collective. While performing the activity, each participant will have the opportunity to talk to others about their selected object for barter.
What you need: - skill, space, object - someone to exchange with - respect - honesty
Actions: A. Select an object or identify a skill set you want to use as a form of exchange B. Write a description or story in the form of a journal entry or poem C. Set up a space for participants to engage with each other in discussion ad trade D. Collectively create a contract both parties can commit to
Lens: Boundaries, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: What type of exchanges do you partiipate in or see in your everyday life? What is value?
Learning Objective Ability to develop a mutually beneficial exchange; develop communication skills
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OURGOODS.ORG Caroline Woolard + Jen Abrams
About the Project:
2008 to present - New York
OurGoods is a community of artists, designers and cultural producers who want to barter skills, spaces and objects. OurGoods supports the production of new work through barter. OurGoods is a scalable, local initiative and part of a growing number of alternative models of exchange in art, design and culture. It is a community of cultural producers forming relationships amongst each other through skill sharing.
Courtesy of SPQ and Change Administration
Actions: A. Individuals or collectives identify a need they require B. Individuals or collective identifies someone with who to barter with C. A contract is drawn up between the parties involved to assure exchange will occur
Lenses: BOUNDARIES: Bartering as a system of exchange provides the space for an equal playing field. The idea challenges the idea that we are dependant you flows of capital to survive; the individual becomes dependant on themselves. NETWORKS: Ourgoods.org acts as a node where a network of artists, designers and cultural producers exchange through barter. IMAGINARIES: The vision of this project explores an alternative to monetary exchanges and instead values the exchange of skills, spaces and objects.
For more info about this project visit: https://ourgoods.org/
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EXPERIMENTAL DRIFTING DERIVES + PSYCHO-GEOGRAPHY
About the Exercise: A derive is an experimental form of movement through a given context (the city). The method of a derive can include the element of chance or emotional response to influence the movement through the context. Movement can also be established through a pre-determined set of rules set up before hand. This method is used to investigate the cities and to reveal moments where the city is fragmented in function or character.
What you need: - individual or group - a site to move through - tools to document (camera, sketch book, pencil, pen)
- tool to set up parameters (rules)
Actions: A. Go for a walk around your neighborhood with no pre-determined path or goal. B. Explore your surroundings by being conscious of but not necessarily following pre-established walkways or street signs C. Allow yourself to be drawn by the of the terrain D. Document your journey through photography, drawing or writing
Lens: Boundaries, Power Dynamics, Imaginaries
Questions: What elements or moments in your walk visually guide you to them? What directs you away? What stories do maps tell? Who creates them? What elements can be explored in creating a qualitative map?
Learning Objective Critical thinking, investigating through emotional connection
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PERIPATETIC BOX Simonetta Morro
About the Project:
2007- completed in Salzburg, Austra
The Peripatetic Box deals with the idea of portability, miniaturization and systematic investigation of a given context- in this case the city- and the emotional response that it provokes. It consists of a toolkit that provides the opportunity to construct an active guide to the city. The user of the guide can create their itinerary by answering questions, writing comments on prepared cards, drawing maps and collecting materials.
Courtesy the artist
Actions: A. The tool box and creation of prompts to guide the user sets the stage for the method of investigation. B. The city was chosen as the context to investigate C. Being guided by emotions and prompted by tools in the box, the user constructs a journey of of individual connections to the urban space.
Lenses: BOUNDARIES: While conducting this exercise, the user is being guided my their feelings and emotions bout the urban they are moving through, these emotions is what creates the limits nd extents of the journey. POWER DYNAMICS: The idea tha the user is ultimately creating their own map, allows for you to question the maps that exist. IMAGINARIES: The open-ended structure and framework of the toolkit, calls for multiple perspectives and diverse iterations of the activity so s to begin and contruct a robust archive of guide created by people on the ground.
For more info about this project visit: http://www.simonettamoro.com
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STORIES IN UNEXPECTED PLACES SITE SPECIFIC ORAL HISTORIES
About the Exercise: Creating site specific oral histories can reveal resident’s personal memories and emotions about specific geographic locations. This exercise can be done in conjunction with a mental mapping exericise. If your mental map includes a ‘landmark’ that has a connection to you, write or draw the story that is connected through your memory of the space. If you do not have a mental map, create a list of places that stir your memories and begin to draw or write out your stories. As a group, or individually go to the site you have chosen and leave your drawing or writing for the public to be able to view and share in the connection you share with the space.
What you need: - a sheet of paper - markers - pencils - scissors
- *mental map (if you have already created one)
Actions: A. Use an existing mental map exercise or conduct the exercise prior to oral histories B. Identify a public space, private space, ladmark, infrastructural element etc. and write or draw tyour memory or experience about the space you have selected. C. Go th the location and leave the story your have materialized to allow for the ublic to engage in your moment.
Lens: Stories, Power Dynamics, Network
Questions: What stories do landmarks tell? Who is being represented and do you feel a connection to the story?
Learning Objective Finding resources; engagding with the neighborhood history; community engagement 36
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[MURMUR] Murmur
About the Project:
2003- multiple locations
[murmur] is a documentary oral history project that records stories and memories told about specific geographic locations. They collect and make accessible people’s personal histories and anecdotes about the places in their neighborhoods that are important to them. In each of these locations they install a [murmur] sign with a telephone number on it that anyone can call with a mobile phone to listen to that story while standing in that exact spot, and engaging in the physical experience of being right where the story takes place
Courtesy murmur
Actions: A. Identified individuals who have a connection to a geographic location in their neighborhood B. Recorded their accounts and personal histories on the location they identified C. Installed signs that directed passersby to a phone number they could call and listen to someone’s personal account D. Maps were produced to direct the general public to the various locations
Lenses: STORIES: This project creates an alternative history and connection to place through the diverse accounts that are recorded and available for engagement with. POWER DYNAMICS: Allowing individuals to locate spaces (takeing on many forms) to create a story around its ersonal importance and connection to people as individuals, challenges the percieved idea that landmarks should be recognizable to the general public. Intimate stories take on a new layer of exposing them in the public realm. NETWORKS: Each story and anecodte is connected through murmur’s initiative. For more info about this project visit: http://murmurtoronto.ca/about.php
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READING BETWEEN THE LINES CONTENT ANALYSIS
About the Exercise: Content analysis is a method that is used to analyze the communication of specific content. Reading between the lines can allow for you to identify the actors, the relationships they have between each other, and the types of exchanges that take place. For this exercise you also need to develop a system of coding the text that is being read. Actors with power and control can be highlighted in a certain color, lines of weak relationships can be drawn through dashed lines, consequences that result from certain actions can be circled and tied back to the actor that it is related to. The exercise allows you to add a layer of critical analysis about the way information is passed down.
What you need: - text document (article, report, analysis, timeline) - highlighters (multiple colors) - pencils
Actions: A. Read through the document you have selected to analyze B. Create a coding system to represent actors, actions, and exchanges. C. Map out one actor at a time (repeating the process for all the actors identified in your sample) D. Look for moments of intersection bewteen actors and identify the outcomes of these intersections
Lens: Stories Power Dynamics, Networks
Questions: What data is being analyzed and who is it being written for? Who defines it and what audience is it being directed to?
Learning Objective Critical thinking, making relations that are not clear at first glance, interpreting information 38
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NYC ARTS TIMELINE Luisa Munera
About the Project:
2013- New York City
The investigation was focused on making connection between events in history. A timeline is organized by time and I wanted to extract actors and actions that might have been made in a moment in history that end up having direct affects later on in history. The timeline selected ranges from 1911 to 1990. The timeline that has been highlighted depicts a narrative of an under-represented group of practitioners who have collectively come together in the hopes of creating a more just and inclusive platform for artistic production and dissemination.
Courtesy Luisa Munera
Actions: A. I read a timeline produced by the National Association of Artists’ Organizations B. I developed a coding system for the actors, actions they took and policies that were put in place that later impacted certain populations.
Lenses: STORIES: The investigation tells the stories of issue related to rights, inclusivity, and speculation in the arts sector of New York City during 1911 and 1990 POWER DYNAMICS: The investigation brings to light the dynamics that exist between city and government agencies. The timelines reveals moments of collective action the result in shifts of power and control. NETWORKS: The timeline brings to light the networks that have been created beause of actions taken by certain stakeholders. The relationships and connections that are created transcend time and forms common stories around groups in history. For more info about this project visit: http://urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
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CAPTURING LOCAL HISTORIES Storytelling
About the Exercise: This activity is used in a workshop setting to be able to analyze local histories and mobilize residents into collective action. The exercise allows for the surfacing of stories to emerge. The construction of a DIY tool to capture stories and make connections between individuals in the neighborhood is a creative approach to storytelling.
CONTRIBUTOR PROJECT
What you need: - cardboard or scrap wood - string - yarn - post-its
- camera - glue -scissors - power drill
Actions: A. Select your path & take pictures B. Print pictures and lay out in order C. Find scrap wood/ material & glue pictures D. Drill holes & hang E.Identify participants for workshop F. With workshop group,
have them identify stories in relation to sites on the walk G. Add stories H. Using yarn make connections between stories I. Form action groups around shared interests
Lens: Stories, Networks, Imaginaries
Questions: How can you engage the public to engage in the sharing of stories? How is history represented through personal stories? What connections can be made between local residents?
Learning Objective Critical thinking, making relations that are not clear at first glance
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THE MOSAIC Marcea Decker, Rehanna Azimi, Monique Baena-Tan
About the Project:
2014- New York City
Our project is a tool for community organizers that stems from the concept of the mosaic; it is also from this concept that we name the tool and methodology “The Mosaic� - the cohesion of separate pieces and parts as a narrative made up from many different narratives. The Mosaic draws attention to the relationship and interplay between tangible and intangible and is a dynamic multi-layered approach of understanding community as praxis. It grants visibility to memories and stories that may not have a visible or physical presence.
Courtesy Sabrina Dorsainvil
Actions: A. The research team identified a path to tell local stores B. Thhey developed a tool to assist in engaging community with the space C. The group engaged with the community in workshops to collect stories about sites along the path D. Upon completeing the workshop the group shared and discussed stories, insights and future collaborations
Lenses: STORIES: The Mosaic offers a way to empower the community members who embody these narratives through the process of remembering, recording and retelling. NETWORKS: The interaction is not just from person to person, but between individuals and groups and their physical environment. IMAGINARIES: This process is meant to create new connections and turn interest groups into action groups, making weak ties strong and leaving the participant with agency in their own hands.
For more info about this project visit: http://urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
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GLOSSARY THE METHODS
Asset Mapping: is a methodology that seeks to uncover and use the strengths within communities as a means for sustainable development. Community Engagement: Is the process by which community organizations and individuals build ongoing, permanent relationships for the purpose of applying a collective vision for the benefit of a community. Consciousness Raising: This takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group of people on a specific cause or condition. Some common issues that are discussed are diseases, conflicts and movements. CR sessions can be looked at as the initial entry point into a condition or issue. Thinking and discussing leads to an expression that then lead to an action. Derive: A dÊrive is an unplanned journey through a landscape, usually urban, on which the subtle aesthetic contours of the surrounding architecture and geography subconsciously direct the travellers, with the ultimate goal of encountering an entirely new and authentic experience. Direct observation: This can occur through video tape playback or through live observation. In direct observation, you are making specific observations of a situation without influencing or participating in any way. Erasure: Is an artform which usually involves selectively erasing words and phrases from a found text. Field Research: Field research or fieldwork is the collection of information outside of a laboratory, library or workplace setting. Happening: A performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings occur anywhere and are often multi-disciplinary and require active participation of the audience. Key elements of happenings are planned, and artists sometimes keep room for improvisation. Happenings eliminates the boundary between the artwork and its viewer. Mapping: Is creating graphic representations of information using spatial relationships within the graphic to represent some relationships within the data. Mental Maps: A mental map refers to a person’s point of view and how they perceive their area of interaction.
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Oral Histories: Is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved as an aural record for future generations. Oral history strives to obtain information from different perspectives, and most of these cannot be found in written sources. Public Intervention: A public art intervention enters a situation outside the art world in an attempt to change the existing conditions there. For example, intervention art may attempt to change economic or political situations, or may attempt to make people aware of a condition that they previously had no knowledge of. Participant observation: This form of observation requires the researcher to immerse themselves in the community or situation being studied. Collecting data in this manner requires the researcher to invest fully with the community in order to know if the direct observations are valid. Photojournalism: is a particular form of journalism that creates and uses images in order to tell a news story. Surveys: These are written questionnaires and open ended surveys about ideas, perceptions and thoughts. Sociogram: This tool is used to visually map the interpersonal relationships and lines of communication. Theater of the Oppressed: Theater of the Oppressed is a form of popular theater created by and for people engaged in the struggle for liberation. The space allows for people who want to learn ways of fighting back against oppression in their daily lives.
www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com
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BIBLIOGRAPHY RESOURCES
http://womanhouse.refugia.net www.urbanatlasproject.wordpress.com http://www.peopleskitchen510.org http://www.suzannelacy.com http://dsgnagnc.com/santa-cruz-visible/ http://whitney.org/Collection/HansHaacke http://agustinawoodgate.com/ http://candychang.com http://hankwillisthomas.com http://gothamist.com/2011/09/09/interactive_911_street_art_memorial http://interrogative.org/projects http://www.queensmuseum.org/social-practice-queens/ http://ourgoods.org/ http://simonettamoro.com http://murmurtoronto.ca/about.php
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