VIRTUAL Lisbon Livable Cities

Abstract

The public space offers a rare opportunity for an unmediated encounter between diverse ethnoreligious and national communities. Sometimes, the groups only share urban space, such as a street bench or summer’s shade. That provides art with a new role: seeking opportunities for poetic connections next to sociopolitical criticism and bringing with it a challenge: how to communicate in a sophisticated way and prevent from “shouting too loud”? The course “Art for Informers” at the Department of Material and Visual Culture at Bezalel examined methodologies of mimicking spatial space objects such as traffic signs, ads, or immersive performances, inspired by the shooting of a soap opera in an IKEA branch (Ben-Ner, 2007). The students searched for an opportunity for a poetics act or protest in the city, the goal is to turn the scene of events into a temporary temple as in Hakim Bey’s T.A.Z. : The Temporary Autonomous Zone (1991). The students were sent on missions to pick up objects from the public space, implant new text or technology inside them, and then reassimilate them in the city. By adopting flânerie methodologies inspired by Georges Perec (1974), we have adopted conscious observation that elicits emotion from a daily experience. The outputs shed light on repressed social phenomena. The students have learned that sometimes, the difference between spectator empathy and antagonism lies in the location of their piece. The article presents the students’ selected outputs and examines the reactions of the passersby.