January 28, Presentation at 1 ShantiRoad Gallery, Bangalore
view more photos of presentation show


JANUARY 16TH 2009, Inner Experience in Public Space, meditation-hairbraiding.
Bringing sensation, and talk on the sexual-self into public space, Cubbon Park.




Radha, Michelle, Suomona, Sayantoni, Geetu, Urmila, Anushka, Mrinalini, Saema, Pryanka,Swati

Suomona and Sayantoni

Mrinalini and Saema. All photos by Ana Paula Albé

Sunday January 18 2009, TRANSFORMATIVE ACTIONS, CUbbon Park, BANGALORE.

In the first week of the collaborative, public exercises, one of many proposed interventions was conducted at Cubbon Park on Sunday January 18th. At the bamboo site in the park primarily dominated by men. Along with students of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology the artists invited and offered people to take part in transformative actions at a selected site in the park. At a site in the park primarily dominated by men.

The students drew a map of Cubbon Park to invite and show the public their suggestions for a self-guided tour of creative expressions in public space. The map wasn't really necessary for the public, cause people joined the transformative actions right away. Mostly men joined, cause they are the majority represented in public spaces, and women tend to keep back and await allowance from their men to interact. In terms of the group's working methods the Charter/Map was important in terms of coordinating and understanding our own actions taking place in the city as stage.

"Sunday afternoon we invited people by the rock and bamboo area to participate in braiding the space with colorful fabrics - Opening and transforming the site into a joyful space for connectedness across cultural and lingual barriers. Opening for conversations between the sexes. We invited people to tie 'wishing' bangels and bells onto the fabric lanes to make wishes for positive understanding and sensitivity between people. Everyone participating all at the same time made sound with the bangels and bells.
The intervention created a temporary space for new ways of dialogue between strangers in public space. The day finished with the participants going in female couples to the shady bamboo grove near the park entrance thus visualizing the necessity of a site for female lesbians too, as the site is already a spot for gays."

One of the exercises carried out at the site on Friday 16 also included female students making a meditation sitting on the rocks in a circle, creating space for inner body-experiences, meditating on their personal imaginative animal. Afterwards they turned their bodies facing the surroundings looking out and started braiding each others' hair two and two as an act of reclaiming public space in their own feminine way.

In performing these exercises, the participants wish to challenge the predominant ways in which the city is experienced partly due to cultural and religious conditioning.

In terms of having consistant value for the society in Bangalore the transformed site could have been used during Sunday evening and the following days for more transformative actions focusing on the sexual-self versus the religious/cultural gendered-self and having discussions with ngo-groups keeping the dialogue with the attracted public, which were mainly being men.

Other transformative actions that we talked about doing this Sunday, which could be great to do at another occasion:
- The girl students playing loud music from their mobile phones while hanging out near the trees and walking the area, thus taking over a usual male act in the park.
- Asking passing by women to write a note on where they feel fearful/joyful in public space in the day/night. They would then be asked to hang bangles and bells at this place as a ritual transformation from fear to joy.
- The student girls climbing and sitting in the trees, copying usual male acts.

The gathering of artists and students went on into other city interventions...experimenting with more methods in terms of creating "inclusive, creaitve, participatory spaces" in the public realm.
See the following posts...
View blog for all the city Interventions here
http://zeeniac.net/fearandgender-bangalore


Photos by Vinayak Das






photos by Liz Kuenneke














Photos by Liz Kueneke

Photo by Elena Pereira


Anushka tying ribbons to the little girl's hair. Girls we did not know. Photos by Liz Kueneke


Photos by Michele Cherian

Photos by Michele Cherian

EXperience at Cubbon Park 18.01.09

In a male dominated space, such as the Bamboo area of Cubbon Park, we decided to introduce feminine influences and thereby interact with people and involve them through an intervention. I started by slicing the cloth gently and then noticed the beautiful rhythm witch which it tore apart. Soon, most f us got involved in this “action” which we did not expect at all! Simply separating the cloth into thinner pieces would give a chance for two people to enjoy moments of fun with this playful act of pulling the fabric to create motion.

Yes, people noticed us smile. They noticed the joy in our eyes and soon they came closer. Inviting people to help us separate the fabric was a great idea! The kids especially enjoyed this and came to trust us after taking part in this act. I have realized, if you make a person smile on the inside, they will trust you, its human nature! And a step toward transforming a space is also transforming peoples mindsets in that space. Trust in a Public Space – not so common is it?
And so we found an act within an act!

Now we reached the “planned” portion of the intervention. Asking people to tie the fabric in any way they so desired around the specific space. Soon translucent veils of yellow, blue, purple, pink and more surrounded the place. They danced in the wind and truly lifted everyone’s spirits. The act of tying these really brought people together, strangers were helping each other. Men helped children that could not reach the branches to tie their knots. Now people were curious! Whats going on? We said – Wait and watch!

A man came upto me and asked “Kya Yeh kuch Terrorist protest hain kya” – “Is this to protest against the terrorists?” And immediately I said no. I was not so clear all of a sudden of what to say! So I said – This is to lift up the spirits of the place. Add joy. Make people interact and just create an ambience of comfort.
Im still not sure if I was right with what I told him then, but I think that largely this is what we did for people. We made them think. We got them to talk to each other. And after all the planning – It felt great!

For me personally the best experience was to tell people to tie a bangle and bell each onto the fabric. People crowded around the basket of bangles and some came back to tie a second. We even ran out of bells!
The sounds the bangles and bells created was amazing! Like a thousand little wind chimes scattered and ringing. Now people were really curious, and the questioning was non stop which gave us a good chance to interact with them. People I normally would not have spoken to, maybe because I feared them, maybe because I was not given the chance, I spoke to.

Some men of course, were there to look. There were girls orchestrating the entire thing and at times I felt uncomfortable stares. Is it because I fear always? Were they clicking photos of us or of the lovely canopy of fabric? These are questions, I cannot answer.

The most interesting experience was involving young girls to participate in “The Mirror Activity”. They just loved the ribbons in their hair and would look in the mirror and then shy away!
At the end of the intervention each one of us felt awesome, as I’m sure did the people who participated.

Anushka Sani, student Srishti School of Art, Design, Technology, 2009

WOMEN COUPLES BY CUBBON PARK BAMBOO AREA
Lesbian women in Bangalore have no place to go to, when they want to hang out in public or private places. Participants from the workshop coupled-up in a symbolic act lighting candles and claiming public space for lesbian women in Bangalore.




photos by Vinayak Das


The day after the intervention, not much fabric left. Local park conservatory staff took down.

Tuesday January 27 2009, DICKinson Road,
men drawing their ideal woman and A dis-respectful woman