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.”
Paint the town
By Dagmar Hoogland
The power of Colour. We know it, when we put on a bright red jumper on a rainy day or choose that one particular magazine on a shelf just because the colours jumped out. How much of a difference colour really makes is something that is constantly explored by the Dutch artists Haas&Hahn.
In 2006, this duo started developing the idea of creating community-driven art interventions in Brazil after they worked together on a documentary about hip hop in the favelas of Rio and São Paolo. Inspired by this visit, they embarked on a journey to bring outrageous works of art to unexpected places starting with painting enormous murals in the slums of Brazil together with the local youth.
The Favela Painting Project was born, a project that aims to transform communities into landmarks and inspirational monuments as a part of Rio’s image.
The first piece was a 150m2 mural of a boy flying a kite, took three months to complete and was painted collaborating with local youth, who were recruited through the Soldados Nunca Mais program of the Ibiss Foundation. This and the second painting, were made in Vila Cruzeiro, Rio’s most notorious slum on an enormous piece of concrete to protect the hills from mudslides. The artworks received worldwide acclaim and have become points of pride in the community and throughout Rio. The latest project, completed on March 29, is Praça Cantão and is located in the heart of Rio de Janeiro.
According to Dre Urhahn, one of the Favela Painting artists “This work of art can make a colorful difference in the lives of local individuals, the community and the city of Rio. It has the potential of working as a catalyst in the processes of social renewal and change”.
They now get support from the Firmeza Foundation and found a partner/ collaborator, Akzo Nobel, who supplies them with paint.
You can follow them on Facebook and twitter and see what their act of bright bursting colours and positive collaboration will be like. We love it.
Feast of strangers
by Shane Solanki
The 21st century is deemed to be the age of communication, and yet people seem to be becoming more and more isolated.
Why? Professor Theodore Zeldin has an answer. “There is less and less time, and a great hunger for conversations that are not superficial,” he tells us. That’s why every year, Zeldin (born in Palestine in 1933, educated in Egypt and Oxford, French government advisor and author of ‘An Intimate History Of Humanity’) has a birthday party with a difference. For starters, he likes to invite as many strangers as he can to the party. He sits them down, partners them up, and offers them a menu of conversation. The menu lists topics and questions through which feasters can discover who sits opposite them, prompting conversation which explores intimacy, love, fear, sensuality, tolerance and many more delicious morsels which make up the meal we all are. Within minutes, shyness dissipates, curiosity is engaged, and you might find yourself telling a stranger what you really really want, what you’re afraid of, and who you’d like to be.
The Feast of Strangers is coming to a town near you soon. Look out for feasts in Europe, South America and Asia over the next year; we’ve heard of feasts being organised in Bangalore in December, and Sao Paolo in April. You could even organise one yourself, and if you contact us directly, we’ll put you in touch with Theodore. If all of us start talking to each other, regardless of age, occupation and belief, who knows what conversations, relationships and communities we can build over the coming generation.
Skip around
By Dagmar Hoogland
Here’s another youngster that changes the urban environment with his own two hands. His name is Oliver Bishop-Young.
A Goldsmith University Graduate, Oliver is now a designer that came up with an extraordinary series of installations for the public.
By converting empty skips into public spaces such as skate parks, swimming pools, living rooms and gardens he shows us a piece of very fresh DIY town planning.
A design solution for the city made out of a piece of metal that’s normally only used for trash. In his words “My work focuses on skips and looks at three main areas: exchange of waste materials, re-use of waste and making use of wasted spaces”.
He also came up with another use of the skips where people could leave unwanted items behind and write down what they’ve added to the skip on a piece of black board. On a website you could search for items required or the location of a skip and find a photo of each skip and where to find the skip (the website is called SkipWaste but is currently not active). Find out more of this project here.
Oliver has since been involved in many other exciting projects from recycled strapping to a poster of a London tube map which shows what would happen to the city when sea levels would rise.
We at VivaCity can’t wait to see what he’s up to next…
Young people
By Andy Marks
Young people. Trouble makers. No respect. Anti-social. Lazy. Don’t know how lucky they are…
Or
Young people. Energetic. New ideas. Creativity. Hope. Motivated. The future…
If you are in the latter camp, then you, like me believe in recognising, nurturing and supporting young people particularly as they will inherit the mess we helped create. Numerous VivaCity posts have celebrated some of the excellent movements in cities around the world that work with young people - the Mwelu Foundation in Nairobi, Afro Reggae in Rio, a Superhero Supply Shop in New York and holes in walls in cities around India all engage and encourage in remarkable ways. However, few of them are run by young people and have the sole aim of recognising the important work young people are already doing for their own communities, which is exactly what the Young Achievers trust does.
The Young Achievers Trust celebrates and supports the outstanding contribution of young volunteers in their communities, offering a range of rewards and support to help them achieve even more. The award scheme covers four categories - arts, environment, community and sport, so if you know a young person (16-24 years old) who is energetic, full of new ideas, creativity, hope and motivation and who is doing something to make their community or city a better place, then please nominate them here. And if you are a young achiever, you can even nominate yourself. The closing date is September 30.
If you know of similar schemes around the world, please let fellow VivaCity folk know below…
Dancing in the streets too
By Shane Solanki. Picture Briony Campbell
The folk at VivaCity love a party, and who can blame us? We recently covered Streets Alive and the party held in a structure made from umbrellas, the Bucky Bar. This time we celebrate The Big Lunch a UK-wide campaign to get as many people having street parties on a single day as possible, with the intention of getting neighbours to hang out with each other and rediscover a sense of community spirit.
This year, we got together with our neighbours, and had a party. We hand-delivered flyers to each of the two hundred homes on our council estate, introducing ourselves and explaining the ethos behind the Big Lunch.
We constructed a children’s den and made home-made bunting, from African fabrics at our local market. We had a bike surgery, a juice bar, a parkour workshop, and a competition for the best dish (we’d asked all of neighbours to bring dishes representing their heritage). There was Nigerian jolof rice, Bengali pakora and Brazilian pão de queijo to eat.
A local musician and busker kept us entertained for hours with his double bass, getting us all to sing along to classic tunes in the sunshine. The children (of all ages and stages of hair loss) played inside the magical den. A girl who cartwheeled perfectly invoked an impromptu forward roll competition. Lots of kids helped us dig and water a patch of communal ground, in which we planted herbs, which we intend to keep expanding as a community herb garden.
We cooked, eat, drank, laughed and played until the sun went down.
The Big Lunch is a remarkable initiative, which works. None of us want to grow up alone, separate from our neighbours, and afraid of the places we live in - and none of us have to. By breaking bread with our neighbours, by sharing our stories, our food, our cultures and our lives, we can build a sense of community; a sense of pride in our local neighbourhood; a sense of belonging.
Now, we’re all starting to smile at each other and call each other by our names. We’re knocking on doors, sharing news, cups of tea, cans of beer, and even risottos, curries and pies. We’re sitting out on our front porches and greeting the people who walk by, as their attention is caught by the sunflowers which line our front gardens (which our neighbours didn’t ask permission to plant, and yet which the council now smile at too). Even the guy in the CCTV van which sits outside our estate has started to say hello.
Life for all of us is changing. Neighbours who used to say, “it’s not what it used to be round here,” are now saying, “it’s like the old days, when we all knew each other!” Newer neighbours, who have just moved in, are starting to get comfortable and get stuck into the process of building community, not being afraid to bring their diverse cultures and experiences to the table.
Life can be sweet. All it needs is each of us to take the initiative. The Big Lunch will be even bigger in 2011, so find out how you can start making the place you live into a brighter, warmer, more beautiful community. If you live outside the UK, why not start your own initiative using The Big Lunch formula. It’s fun to break bread with your neighbours, and it might just make this world a nicer place to live in.
VivaCity birthday honours list - part 2
By Julian Broadhead, Dagmar Hoogland, Andy Marks and Shane Solanki
Welcome to the second instalment of the VivaCity birthday honours list, where we select our favourite movements which are changing the way we see and use cities for the better. Feel free to surf, bowl, bomb, flash, plant, eat, discuss, inspire and honour in your neighbourhood…
Ghost Bikes
Showing the difficulties of a rising bike culture in a car driven world, this initiative is daring and controversial, as its not always appreciated to point out the painful reality. Deserves credit as it takes a difficult subject head on, in a beautiful haunting way. Dagmar
Couch Surfing
Your sofa isn’t just a place to plonk your butt and zone out to an episode of Lost / Madmen / The Wire / Desperate Housewives (delete as appropriate). It is a place for folk from around the world to seek shelter, be entertained, entertain, share food and life stories. Andy
TED
The worlds most exciting platform for discussion and new ideas that’s bringing free knowledge and inspiration to the global community. From some of the world’s most inspired thinkers - believing that the power of ideas are the start of any change, TED’s the place to be. Dagmar
Seed Bombs
One of the most ubiquitous instruments of conflict, reinvented as a means by which to enhance and bring a little bit of nature back to those neglected areas of the urban landscape. Julian
Flash Mobs
The flash mob is not that new but this spontaneous action shows the collective fun of a crowd, it shows guts, action, and surprise turning to delight. Our example starting on the beach by an enthusiastic boy in red speedo’s embodies the VivaCity spirit. Dagmar
Urban vegetable gardens
Transforming the way we relate to energy, consumption, food and public space, planting stuff (be it vegetables, fruit or flowers) in the city is the most blatant example of how grassroots movements are spearheading the changes that will affect all of us city dwellers through this century. Shane
Speakeasies
Underground dining or Speakeasies - no rules, no sky high bills and no time slots, this is a private affair for foodies who love to meet people and welcome each other into their most private part of life: their home. It reflects a playful and social attitude towards food and food sharing. Dagmar
Midnight Cricket
This most formal of games played spontaneously under the yellow glow of street lights. What’s not to love? Julian
VivaCity birthday honours list - part 1
By Julian Broadhead, Dagmar Hoogland, Andy Marks and Shane Solanki
A year older and hopefully a year street, junction, underpass and ring road wiser. Looking back over the last year, we have selected our favourite grassroots movements which are changing the way we see and use cities for the better.
Afro Reggae
Trading guns, drugs and brutal violence in Rio’s favelas for an electrifying mix of rhythms, dance, theatre and martial arts; a spellbinding platform for young people to get their lives back on track. See them at London’s Southbank this weekend. Andy
Yarn bombing
Hilariously named knitting ‘crews’; a form of civil disobedience few could fail to appreciate and a fantastic way to bring a little bit of colour and creativity to our public spaces. Julian
The art of street art
Colombia recently almost elected a president who, as mayor of Bogota, successfully replaced the corrupt traffic police with a team of mime artists. Urban street art encourages us to be playful with the world that we live in, claiming it back from advertising hoardings and the long arm of the law. Shane
Hidden Park
Turning a screen obsessed culture on it’s head – off the sofa and in to the park with your smart phone to find magical creatures and beasties lurking, roaming and entrancing. Andy
Random huggers
The smallest of things can brighten your day and change your outlook. A hug, even from a stranger, could be just that thing. Julian
Holes in walls
Sugata Mitra’s famous experiment, where he put a computer into a hole in the wall in a slum in Delhi, was remarkable for demonstrating that if you give people the means, they’ll learn, create and improvise. If you haven’t quite curbed your urge to fly to hot places, then on your next trip, take the bus out to a slum, make some friends, give them your old laptop (you know, the one that’s been sitting under your desk unused for the last two years), and watch what happens! Shane
Growing fruit trees at train stations
Concrete, charmless, chilly, colourless train stations. Planting, tending and harvesting apples, redcurrants, blackcurrants and blackberries means I for one will never look at a train station the same way ever again. Andy
Bags of hope
Recycling, dealing with ever increasing mountains of plastic in a constructive way, providing employment and income for people below the poverty line, making something beautiful - Conserve India makes fashion items out of rubbish collected on the streets of Delhi. The perfect VivaCity movement. Shane
Blue sky thinking
By Shane Solanki
This is the most exciting time we have ever known. In such a short space of time, the world has changed completely. And it’s only just started; we’re hurtling towards a future that will look radically different from the one we knew even twenty years ago.
Can we pool our wisdom and imagination to create a future for all of the planet’s creatures that is rich and positive?
Hopefully we’ll remember that we all came from the same place. That we’re all related. There’s so much to be done; we need to work to find real solutions to the problems that face us all. VivaCity attempts to find such solutions, especially ones that help us to negotiate the mediated and often controlled public spaces to be found in cities.
In 1996, the British organisation Reclaim The Streets became infamous for their impromptu parties organised on roads, reclaiming the streets from cars (which offer speed and comfort to their users, whilst other road users pay the price through fear, injury, pollution and congestion). One of their most celebrated festivals was the M41 street party, where for nine hours 8,000 people took control of the M41 motorway in West London, partied and generally enjoyed themselves, whilst some dug up the tarmac with jack-hammers and in its place planted trees (trees that had been rescued from the construction path of the M11 link road campaign, which led to the loss of homes, loss of quality of life and community fragmentation).
These days, some activists are looking to be a little bit more playful and less confrontational in their approach to reclaiming the streets; take the pothole gardener, who saves cyclists from the perils of the pothole and simultaneously scores a goal back for nature in the match against tarmac.
Activism doesn’t have to be militant, subversive and illegal; Brighton Council (home of the UK’s recently elected first Green MP) commissioned artist Stig Evans to paint blue skies across the boarded-up windows of a derelict pub in one of Brighton’s most rundown estates. Since then, residents claim there’s been a marked decrease in problem behaviour there.
In London, artists Fugitive Images were concerned with the lack of identity which residents of their soon-to-be-demolished council estate had, amongst faceless new builds and endless property developments. So they put up life-size pictures of residents on the windows, allowing the personality of their community to breathe life into their ‘hood.
Look at these interventions as graffiti for the 21st century; signposts to a way of life which is richer with meaning, looking to enhance the quality of our lives and make us feel happier about the places we inhabit. Seed the future; paint the sky; reclaim the streets. Make them yours. It could be through poetry, guerrilla gardening, bike rides or many of the other ways we’ve documented on VivaCity. Together, like slacktivist guerillas in the midst, we can resist the grizzly grist of the corporate fist…
