INTERSECTING CLOSETS

BOKAMORAGO [Background]

Why “Intersecting Closets?”

As revealed in the guided reading sessions; queer politics find intersections with feminism, race, class, gender, cultural and other forms of politics. We also have come to appreciate that queerness is not monolithic. That is, it is not made out of one mass (sameness). Each expression and experience is unique. Queerness is broad, fluid, expansive, elastic and strange. It intersects with other forms of politics differently based on positionality and context. The aim here is to explore the multiplicity of those intersections . What questions do these intersections bring up about the city and citizenship?

Cities are spaces to encounter difference and therefore are inherently political. It requires us to employ unconventional ways to narrate this complexity. Design is therefore most suited to do this. It requires the ability to imagine alternative scenarios and represent them in creative ways.

In this brief, intersecting closets; you are tasked to bring these and your readings together to curate diorama inspired by narratives that explore intersectionality between politics.

MOŠOMO [Activity]

Definitions

1. intersect - verb

- the gray area/ point of meeting/ disjunction of meeting

2. diorama/s - noun

- a model representing a scene with three-dimensional figures, either in miniature or as a large-scale museum exhibit.

Still in the assigned groups, build/create/produce 3 intersecting dioramas that explore narratives (based on your guided readings and any additional sourcesfilm, music, novel) around the relationship/intersection of queer politics with two other forms of politics . choose from the list below: Queer, and; race; gender; class; religion; culture (e.g: Queer [gender], Queer [Religion], etc.)

- Your dioramas, need to each intersect with one another at some point and at the point of intersection reveal the relationship between the politics being explored.

- They each also need to use Newtown (or parts thereof) as backdrop or foreground; these may include various elements/ artefacts only found in close proximity of your strip/site in all of them (e.g: bollard, window treatment, etc). Moreover, there must be at least one moving element that transitions between all your diorama scenes.

- All your intersecting dioramas must not be smaller than an (630mm X 297mm),

- Consider narrative/s of each diorama; what happens on the floor, eye level and sky. The narrative/s does/do not have to be linear or complete.

- Document the composite dioramas through a series of assembly drawings

DILO TŠEO DI TLAGO GO TLIŠWA [Deliverables]

• A1 Poster/s documenting your groups conceptualisation, design development and narratives for the 3 dioramas

• A1 Poster, a detailed assembly drawing of all your groups dioramas and how they come together/ are taken apart (important for the intersection point to be highlighted/ shown)

• 3 X well-constructed intersecting dioramas

TEKOLO LE NAKO [Evaluation and Duration]

By successfully completing this project you will exhibit your ability to:

• Work as a group

• Construct and present narratives spatially in unconventional representations

• To develop skills to speculate and imagine possible futures.

• Clarity of narrative (graphic quality of presentation)

• Quality of illustrations and representation

TŠHUPETŠO [Reference]

1.Wortham-Galvin, B.D, 2016. Towards a Queer Urban Design methodology

2.Reed, C. 1996. Immanent Domain: Queer Space in the Built Environment. Art Journal, Vol. 55, No. 4. Pp. 65-70.

1. Highway representing the M1 in Newtown, but also linking all 3 dioramas to queerness with the 1 in 9 protest.

2. Telkom tower to act as dead-end point for the highway, a beckoning point of the joburg skyline.

3. Concrete columns support highway and are covered in posters to symbolise the intersectional link between each diorama and queerness.

4. Trumpet on platform to represent the art of music in Newtown.

5. Train track to represent the railway and tram service that was removed and the journey it takes to travel between provinces or borders for work.

6. The workers statue at the workers museum to represent the struggle and segregation of apartheid.

7. the remains of the broken brickfields spilling out as if something struck the ground, a new something, Newtown.

8. Intersecting point the market theather awning to represent the first theater in joburg that focused deeply on connectedness and inclusivity.

9. Intersecting point. the torn apart memory of the cooling towers that come together to spill out and join the brickfields.

10. Stage for the jazz band connect to the column to act as an entertainment point with pick-handle Mary in the centre.

11. Broken and vandalized street signage to show how the fight for women’s right has somewhat gone obscelete.

12. The Victorian market acting as an edge defining element which is not a complete element to represent the continuity of newtown in the present.