Nine Urban Biotopes - Negotiating the Future of Urban Living (2014)
In early 2014, I was invited by Stefan Horn of Urban Dialogues in Berlin, to be both a participating artist and the South African co-ordinator of the Nine Urban Biotopes (9UB) Project. 9UB was an international, socially engaged art project aimed at producing artistic research and cultural exchange. It did this both within and among civil society (NGO’s) and art initiatives in cities in South Africa and Europe in 2014. South African artists went to work in Europe. European artists came to work in South Africa. Participating artists included: Marjetica Potrč (in Soweto), Athi-Patra Ruga (in Berlin), Antje Schiffers (in Cape Town), Taswald Pillay (in Paris), Armin Linke (in Durban), Dan Halter (in Turin), Terry Kurgan (in Berlin), Anthony Scrag (in Johannesburg) and Rangoato Hlasane (in London).
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Participating partners in Paris, Berlin, London,Turin, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, were all concerned with responding to problems with regard to contemporary urban living in innovative ways. They worked about and responded to issues of safety and housing, youth and migration, mobility and economical subsistence. They did so »on the ground« and »in the thick of life« in each city, which is the reason why they are referred to as »urban biotopes« and this gave the overall project its name. Artists were parachuted into their organisations and briefed with regard to matters of interest and concern, and encouraged to design their projects in relation.
The aim of 9UB was to establish both a »trans-local« and »trans-continental» dialogue by interweaving and connecting new context-specific, socially engaged art projects into the existing social activities of these biotopes. It did so in order to expose, discuss and share different »intentions, methods and techniques« of imaginative urban practices for building »sustainable cities«.
From January to September 2014, nine artistic projects produced work and research in nine innovative urban settings. Three projects ran simultaneously; each for a period of three consecutive months. All of them were participatory in their approach; engaging actively with both citizens and initiators of existing innovative urban development projects.
Embedded reporters represented each process of each participatory arts projects. The citizens of each local participating project were linked up by means of web-based communication and social networks, and in this way themselves become actors in an »arena of exchange«.
By combining, linking and implementing 9UB within a South African – European partner structure – local answers to global questions were discussed in such a way that they shed light on sustainable solutions and innovative ideas regarding urban development issues.
There’s a beautifully designed, interactive 9UB project website here, that both documents each project and its outcomes, and also greatly expands upon my description above in interesting ways.
