Viva happiness!

By Andy Marks

We’re back again after a long break and wish you all happiness in this newest of years.

Yes happiness is what we want and what we reckon you will get by joining any one of the grassroots movements featured here on VivaCity.

But happiness can sound a bit wishy washy and clearly means different things to everyone of the nearly 7 billion of us on this increasingly urban planet.

Never fear for some people are tackling the issue of happiness head on.

Take Action For Happiness. They intend to provide a heap of ideas depending on your appetite for happiness and energy levels. They want to help groups form (very VivaCity), get people to talk about happiness preferably with a smile on their face, and they are even launching Action For Happiness week on April 11. Good luck we say!

And we at VivaCity are happy chappies for a host of reasons. For starters we have bolstered the ranks of contributors and happily welcome Chris Speirs, Anokhee Shah and Sue Shaw – watch out for their forthcoming posts. Oh happy days!

And talking of happiness, fellow contributor Shane Solanki, aka Last Mango in Paris, will shortly cut the ribbon for VivaCity on facebook.

And I am happy to say that, in this century of the city, instead of wallowing in frustration and complaining about overcrowding, pollution, overly powerful corporates, environmental degradation and much much more, there are more and more positive activists™©®☺ doing something about it, and making the world a happier place.

Niqabization of the population

by Shane Solanki

Ever since some dudes in New York started stealing power from street lights to power up home made sound systems to provide the sounds for block party street jams in the late seventies, graffiti has grown from being one of the essential five elements of hip hop to a global phenomenon registering the voice of the people. The simple political protest of scrawling your name on a wall, of marking your territory (amidst a plethora of signifiers which encourage consumption and submission to corporate interests), is one which governments have struggled to contain or understand; take Banksy’s work, once demonized and now deified worldwide. Princess Hijab is the pseudonym given to an anonymous artist who cheekily paints veils onto models on billboards in Paris, capital of the first country in the world to ban the niqab from public spaces. Other artists choose to travel the world to scrawl upon walls, making political statements which spill outside of galleries and institutions. Two of our current favorites are Seth, whose current sabbatical in India and China is pictured above, and Bluu.  

Street art can also be staged, instead of scripted; flash mobs worldwide create protest through performance. The most well celebrated of the flash mob phenomenon is Improv Everywhere, based in New York, but you’ll find examples planet wide; take My Mother’s Funeral, a performance organized in Bombay which manipulated the tendency of the Indian populace to stand, stop and stare at any kind of public spectacle on the street, to distribute messages about personal responsibility in the light of environmental awareness. In a country where the government are doing relatively nothing to stop the mountains of man made waste created every day, perhaps it’s only through public art, performance and spectacle that education can begin. Power to the people.  

All under one roof

By Julian Broadhead

Feeding the population of a major city is no mean feat, requiring production and logistical organisation on an industrial scale, and thereby extending the influence of urban centres far beyond their physical boundaries. 

Judging by the number of times  it crops up as a theme here on VivaCity though, this is clearly a situation that makes many people uneasy, prompting questions about where our food comes from, how it is produced and our relationship to it. For those concerned with such matters, the immediate solution appears to be bringing food cultivation into the urban environment and taking personal control, ranging from keeping chickens in your back garden to planting orchards in train stations.

The latest and slightly different addition to this list of food activists is particularly exciting. FARM:shop is an initiative founded by the ‘eco-social design practice’, Something and Son.  

Based in a formerly disused shop in Dalston, London, it is a farm, shop, cafe, exhibition and meeting space all rolled into one. More than all this though, FARM:shop is an experiment in urban food production, with the expressed aim of combining the best of traditional and modern techniques to grow as much food as possible in this limited space.  In practice, this means chickens on the roof and poly-tunnels for vegetables in the garden, whilst indoors there is hydroponic growing, aquaponic fish farming and mushroom cultivation.

So, could FARM:shop represent the shape of things to come? Its founders certainly think so, as this project is merely the beginning of a larger FARM:London initiative, designed to encourage the production of food (and other materials)  in the greater London area, both recreationally and commercially. For us at VivaCity, it is this ambition that makes FARM:shop so exciting and inspiring, and no doubt we will not be alone in following its progress in the coming months with some interest.

Necessity, the mother of invention

By Andy Marks

Slums, shanty towns, favelas, it is estimated that 1 billion of us now reside in these products of extreme urbanisation.

Lagos, a mega city of 16million, has three quarters of it’s residents living in slums. The city is growing at such an extraordinary pace, that by 2015, it is predicted to be the world’s third most populous city, behind only Mumbai and Tokyo.

This astonishing city is home to an astonishing place, the Olusosun rubbish dump, which is home to an astonishing community. For in the Olusosun rubbish dump, 1,000 people live, there are three cinemas, restaurants, a barber shop and a mosque.

Here, the local economy is based on the daily delivery of 3,000 tons of rubbish which is expertly filtered by hand. Here, rubber, plastics, copper aluminium, brass, zinc and more is found, sorted and sold. Here nothing is wasted and everything is a commodity. This vision of resourcefulness and extreme recycling prompted visionary architect Rem Koolhaas to say “What is now fascinating is how, with some level of self-organisation, there is a strange combination of extreme underdevelopment and development.”

What is most striking though is that beyond the human ingenuity, there is a closeness, interdependence and trust between the rubbish dump dwellers. Crime rates are low, people don’t lock away their valuables (partly as the means to do so probably don’t exist), it is self-policing with honour and dignity evident, and there is hope that people are working for a better future. Laudable, humbling, an impressive entrepreneurial spirit all at the same time.

The Olusosun rubbish dump, was documented recently by the BBC2 series Welcome To Lagos, which follows the lives of two people who live and work on the dump. One of them, Eric aka Vocal Slender, was saving money to realise his dream for studio sessions and photographs, to become a recording artist.

Is the Olusosun rubbish dump a vision of the future, when 75% of us will live in cities (by 2050), up from just over 50% today? A future where resourcefulness and ingenuity are the currency, everything must be recycled, and economies are locally based? If so human ingenuity will prevail as it has done before. 

The picture accompanying this post is by the French photo artist JR, from the Women are Heroes series, and features the slum of Kibera in Nairobi.

Fashion forward

By Dagmar Hoogland

Stylish. Sustainable. Socially Conscious.

It sounds like a winning combination, but is it possible to achieve? Following the last VivaCity piece on the gorgeous Sleeping Bags, someone else thinks it is too… Hell (oh) yes, is what Sheena Matheiken would tell you. Sheena is the founder of The Uniform Project and her mission is exactly this.

The project started in 2009 when Sheena got fed up with her career in advertising or to be more specific, with the “uninspiring demands of the advertising world” and decided it was time for something new.

She found her new challenge in fashion when she decided she was going to wear the same black dress every day for a year, and making this dress look different every day without buying any new clothes or accessories.

Pffffew, A pretty difficult task if you ask me. Not to mention the withdrawls one would have of not being able to give into that easy fix called retail therapy.

But she did it. And not only did she succeed on a personal level, the challenge was also designed to be an online fundraiser, raising money to send underprivileged kids to school.

The Uniform Project got lots of media attention all over the world and now is in it’s second year where the project is expending into a global platform combining philanthropy, fashion, sustainability and social commerce into an ongoing mission.

On their site you can choose the classic LBD (Little Black Dress for those not familiar with his term), the reversible LBD or you can buy the pattern and make one yourself. 

Another organization tapping into the issue of over-consumption in the world of fashion is TRAIDremade. 

TRAIDremade recycles, refashions and remakes textiles that would otherwise be thrown away, into beautiful bespoke garments and accessories. It is run by the UK based fashion recycling charity TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International development) and raises funds to fight global poverty through its clothes recycling and environmental activities in the UK.

Their aim is to create one-off garments for the fashion conscious using 100% recycled clothes, fabrics and vintage. During the school holidays or in the evenings over the course of a school term, TRAIDremade runs workshops where you can create your own recycled collection of clothes.

If you’re up for the challenge of being fashion forward not faddy fast fashion, try it out here .

A small but significant introduction

By Julian Broadhead

It’s fair to say that the movements we’ve featured on VivaCity during our sixteenth months of existence serve as suitably eclectic testament to the many wonderful things going on in the world’s urban centres. Whilst many of them may not have a great deal in common, we believe they all share a crucial sense of positivity and a desire to make things better. With this in mind, it is a great pleasure to introduce Sleeping Bags, a project involving Andy Marks and I, which we hope will make a small contribution to this collective effort.

Sleeping Bags is a social enterprise that was conceived and founded by Andy over a year ago, with the aim of eliminating waste and reducing our dependence on disposable plastic bags. We do this by taking retired hotel bed linen and turning it into beautiful, reusable shopping bags, decorated with designs from leading individuals in the arts and creative industries. Not only that, having committed ourselves to certain guiding principles (despite having a complete lack of experience in design and manufacturing), every element of the Sleeping Bags production cycle happens within the greater London area. Moving forward (and as we hopefully grow), we will continue to employ this ‘local-loop’ model.

So, after a rollercoaster period of development, we are delighted to be officially launching Sleeping Bags, the bags with no baggage. Initially, they can be both seen and purchased at the Zetter Hotel in London (who have also allowed us to create a fantastic installation in their atrium, feel free to drop by and see it) and the online retailer, Lost Values. They will also shortly be available at the St. Martin’s Lane Hotel in London, as well as at a number of other soon to be confirmed locations (both physical and online).

To celebrate this small but historic occasion, we would like to give away a Sleeping Bag to one lucky VivaCity reader. To be in with a chance, all you have to do is email us at info@vivacity.me, we’ll be drawing a winner at the end of the month.

“A change is gonna come…”

by Shane Solanki

This was the name of a Sam Cooke song which came to exemplify the sixties civil rights movement in the USA. Can music change the world?

The story of AfroReggae is now world renowned. A bunch of dudes wanted to deal with the amount of deaths and violence in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro, so they set up music workshops for local residents. Now, AfroReggae travels the world, performing, teaching and sharing skills with other organisations. The film Favela Rising documents how their social movement actually brought about a tangible reduction of violent crime in Rio De Janeiro.

Ten years ago, the world famous Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim collaborated with world famous literary theorist and Palestinian activist Edward Said to create the East West Divan Orchestra. The orchestra combined musicians from both Israel and Pallestine. In these brilliant lectures, Barenboim explains how politicians could benefit from paying attention to musicians, who learn to ‘speak’ and ‘listen’ at the same time to produce a harmonious cacophony - perhaps parallel to the kaleidoscopic maelstrom of the swirling masses we find in cities worldwide.

But there are those who would argue that it’s not music that changes the world – it is in fact politics. And there are others that would argue that it’s not music or politics – but fools.

Another South American legend of grass roots activism was also concerned with reducing violence in his home town of Bogota, Colombia. But Antanas Mockus is not your regular kind of activist. He became mayor of Bogota. In his term as mayor, he reduced violent crime by half. His methods were unusual. He sacked the entire traffic police force, riddled with corruption, and successfully replaced them with a troupe of mime artists (the police were offered their jobs back on the condition that they retrain in mime). Check out this documentary on Mockus, perhaps the most unusual politician the world has ever seen.

Clowning, and tomfoolery, is a fascinating way to engage with the confrontation which occurs on our concrete streets. Take the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA), a UK organisation who use clowning to diffuse the tension so often prevalent at protests and demonstrations.

When does activism become politics? Obama began his political career in grass roots activism. Antanas Mockus went on Colombian national TV dressed as a superhero hugging a carrot, ridding the streets of rubbish (by putting litter into the bin, and by ripping advertising off walls). Mockus recently came a whisker away from becoming the world’s first green president. AfroReggae have played a significant role in the political landscape of Brazil under the leadership of Lula. CIRCA are on the frontline of protests, asking us to consider the way we negotiate public space. And an Isreali member of the West East Divan Orchestra has this to say;

“Barenboim is always saying his project is not political. But one of the really great things is that this is a political statement by both sides. It is more important not for people like myself, but for people to see that it is possible to sit down with Arab people and play. The orchestra is a human laboratory that can express to the whole world how to cope with the other.”

Easy as pie

By Dagmar Hoogland

Pies and Alabama; it’s a winning mix. This is what a group of young graphic designers thought when they opened a pie shop in the middle of Greensboro, an underprivileged part of the US where about one-third of the children live in poverty.  Their mission was to give a positive impulse to the community and the problems within by…sharing pie. 

In 2002, The Birmingham News called the Black Belt “Alabama’s Third World.” How could the baking and serving of pie help tackle entrenched social and economic ills?

Project M aimed to answer just such questions. Part of what has become known as the “design for good” movement, Project M was established by a designer named John Bielenberg. Based in Belfast, Maine, it functions as a kind of idea incubator, where young designers are invited to two-week programs to generate solutions to social problems and enhance public life.

They started with the one thing that has been bringing people together for as long as mankind exists: food. Their first project was Free Pie Day, On May 1 of this year, during which Project M members stood on a Belfast street corner and handed out slices of pecan pie, pumpkin pie and apple pie to passers-by. The idea was to spur community and conversation, one slice at a time. Free Pie Day turned out to be an example and similar efforts took place in Washington, Brooklyn and elsewhere. Most important, it inspired PieLab.

“PieLab provides a neutral environment in a traditionally segregated town where people from every race and class are welcome to sit together and talk candidly about whatever is on their mind.”

It’s a low budget affair. Made from reclaimed building materials and thrift store finds, PieLab cost near to nothing to produce, yet already has a devoted following sometimes with 25 or more customers a day. “We already have some regulars,” says Jones. “People will stay for hours to sit and talk with us, giving Project M invaluable insight into the community’s needs, personalities and politics.” 

It is these insights that became the start of change and provided new opportunities. Scott Hamilton, a local resident who comes in almost every day to draw, is the living proof. He has never taken an art class, but has an incredible talent for drawing. He told the PieLab crew that he dreams of going to art school and one day making movies, so they photographed his work and built a Web site to help him apply for scholarships and college. Perhaps he will become the new Hirst or Coppola; gaining worldwide recognition, inspiring generations of art students or instigating a new global movement in art. And it all started with a piece of pie.
 

What’s mine is yours 2

By Julian Broadhead

When we wrote recently about the power of sharing, it sparked a great deal of discussion with family and friends. This simple strategy is seemingly on the rise, precisely because it can help us realise the many benefits of interaction, economy and efficiency. It seemed only seemed fair then, to spread the word to VivaCity followers of even more ways to share.

Where the previously highlighted Streetbank focuses on encouraging sharing and interaction within local communities, Ecomodo is a more commercially minded, transaction based system. Here, goods and services can be offered for free (similarly to Streetbank), for a fee or for a contribution to charity of your choice. All this is facilitated through the Ecomodo website, with insurance and the taking of deposits also available in order to provide assurance for all involved. The result is that although Ecomodo members do provide things for free, they are also prepared to offer the use of high-value items, which in other circumstances they might not do - you can rent or borrow anything from a candy floss maker to a dehumidifier or even a thermal imaging camera.

Another example is more obvious. First appearing in Paris, where it is known as the Velib, then as Dublinbikes and most recently as London’s Barclays Cycle Hire, the proliferation of communal bike schemes clearly points to sharing initiatives gaining traction. To use them, individuals pay a small daily, weekly or annual fee to join and can then use the bikes for short journeys (up to thirty minutes) for free or pay additional rental fees for anything longer than this. In all three cases, the schemes have been a great success, with the sight of citizens furiously pedalling identical two wheeled machines becoming ubiquitous.

That is not suggest that the schemes have been without controversy however, most notably in London, where the bikes’ association with polarising mayor Boris Johnson, and the prominent sponsorship (including naming rights) afforded to Barclays Bank, have been widely criticised. Such superficial issues though, should not distract from what is a fantastic way to get about. 

So VivaCity readers, we encourage you to go forth and share!

BLO!!

by Shane Solanki

Times, they are a’changing, said Bob Dylan. And the dude wasn’t wrong. This year’s model is the BLO, the Brass Liberation Orchestra. Highly political in motive and deed, the BLO are today’s terrorists, using music as their weapon. They play their music to support political causes with particular emphasis on peace, and racial and social justice. They are live, infectious, funky - and FREE. They refuse to play for money, or sell their music; instead, you can book them to play at your protest or street party. All their music is released as downloadable scores from their website, and you’re free to play it, adapt it or remix it. The BLO are a perfect example of Vivacity in motion; imagine if we all used the city as our stage, using public platforms to practise our craft or our business, never charging for what we did, but instead using these platforms to elevate the perception of that which we cared about!

Conservatives and republicans around the world shudder with laughter at this new age notion, imagining ‘trustafarians’ and other modern day hippies, freeloading off either their parents or the state. But perhaps a change is in the air… just ask Mark Boyle, who after a year of living without money and inventing a philosophy called Freeconomy, launched ‘Just For The Love Of It’, an online community dedicated to help reconnect people in their local communities through the simple act of sharing. Everything is shared for FREE on Freeconomy, and no money changes hands between members.

Still don’t believe the hype? Then check the Planetwalker, John Francis, who didn’t take any motorised transport for 22 years, whilst undergoing a vow of silence.

What on earth is going on? No less than a revolution, friends… a revolution of mind and spirit. Neither left or right in politik-speak, but forward. One small step for man at a time… the days of ‘capture-and-own’ are dead. Now is the time of ‘create-and-share’. Vivacity la revolution.