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2015 » The Netherlands » Performing Space
| Curator: | Platform-Scenography |
| Authors of Theme: | Naomi Bueno de Mesquita |
| Designer / Architect of exhibition: | Naomi Bueno de Mesquita |
| Institution: | TRADERS: tr-aders.eu |
Between Realities: Collective Mapping of Public Space
“All the world is a stage” is no longer a metaphor but has become a reality in itself. Staging and theatricalisation are crucial features of our contemporary, mediatized society. Not only do we use today’s stages (in both physical and virtual space) to carefully construct our identity and present it to others, we are also very much aware of the fact that we are being watched. Another aspect of the theatricalisation of everyday life is the growing desire to be immersed in different worlds and to have new experiences. Public space is increasingly staged and designed to produce these experiences. Sometimes it manifests itself in guaranteed adventures, providing us with an illusion of the new. At other times these worlds and the experiences they have to offer surprise or even unsettle us.
Within the context of the theatricalisation of everyday life, public space can be observed and studied as scenography. The multiplication of staged and imagined realities can be felt most intensely in urban public spaces where layers of tourism, entertainment, consumption, art, work, leisure, history, policies, and politics come together. It is precisely in these spaces that we can see how people live between realities and how they cope with its complexity.
We distinguish between five different coping strategies: to shelter, flee, fight, negotiate and surrender. Each of these strategies/practices entails a particular attitude towards reality. Either a movement away from reality (hide or shelter), an engagement with reality (fight or negotiate) or a plunge into reality (surrender).
With the Dutch contribution to the Section of Countries and Regions we aim to collaboratively map these strategies in the public space of Prague. What examples of fleeing, sheltering, fighting, negotiating or surrendering do we encounter? And how does the scenography of public space either enable or disable these practices?
Collective mapping practices with digital means allows us to engage with public space while negotiating with it. This means of mapping is performative and participatory. Collective mapping is furthermore not a process of getting any supposed reality right, it is a way of constructing forms of knowledge that can cope with multiple perspectives on reality.
Visitors to PQ are invited to participate in a series of collaborative mapping sessions. We aim to visualise the imaginative coping strategies available at certain locations. Through mapping we want to introduce participants to a novel way of studying/ engaging with public space and its potentialities. A different strategy will be mapped every day. After each tour there will be time to share experiences and observations.
The digital tool designed for this can help scenographers and designers map the qualities of public space, while paying special attention to its spatial design and the kind of practices that this design enables/disables. They map their observations while visitors of the Dutch exhibition space can witness the formation of the archive in real time and have a look at a map that will visualize what strategies are to be found where.
Between Realities is a series of five (performative) mapping sessions that aims to visualize, negotiate and reflect upon imaginative coping strategies in public space using a mobile phone. Participants are scattered around the city centre while they collaboratively map qualities of public space that enable/disable certain coping strategies. Visitors to the Dutch exhibition space can witness the formation of the archive in real time.