Livingvandalism's Blog

Sochy v ulicích – Brno Art Open 2011

30/10/2011

Združenie Atrakt Art je partnerom medzinárodného projektu Sochy v ulicích – Brno Art Open 2011.
Tretí ročník prehliadky nadväzuje na zámer predchádzajúcich ročníkov rozvíjať tému výtvarného umenia a jeho funkcie vo verejnom priestore. Kurátorom prehliadky je Karel Císař.

Sprievodný program, na ktorého dramaturgii sa podieľa i naše združenie vzniká v spolupráci s 4AM fórum pro architekturu a média, BWO gallery (PL), Periszkóp Rádió (HU), o.s. Inventura, o.s. Bezmezí, o. s. Fléda, Světlo pro svět – Light for the World, o.s.

Podpora: Medzinárodný višegrádsky fond, Ministerstvo kultúry ČR, Mesto Brno, Rakúske kultúrne fórum.

Viac info o prehliadke a sprievodnom programe na:
http://www.dum-umeni.cz/cz/brno_art_open
http://www.dum-umeni.cz/cz/vystava/brno_art_open_2011

Výsledky sprievodného programu nájdete na blogu
http://houseofartsbrno.tumblr.com

invisible cities

26/02/2011

There are various ways to build maps of a city. Some use photography, some use data visualizations, some use a pencil and a piece of paper. Since I do live visuals, I decided to try to explore and map the city by mans of video. I took a videocamera and walked the streets, trying to record moments that later on can be placed on a map. The result is a collection of snippets that put together can build for example the life around central square or around the main station.
Some of the videos were used at the final performance that took place on August 28, 2010, in TABAČKA Kulturfabrik. The idea was to show the invisible rhythms of the city, the rhythms of panel houses and of cars passing by, of people strolling or of water dripping in the fountains, the rhythms that can visualize an EKG map of the city. Below there is link representing the performance “invisible cities” [since there was no recording from that moment, the video was later built from the collected material, using a similar timeplan and "scenario"]

locations mapped in video:
- tram stop at the main train Station [covered in advertising]
- Ťahanovce district [circled around in a trolleybus]
- Hlavná ulica [Košíce Korzo]
- the marketplace on Dominikánske Námestie [here is also located the oldest church in KE, from the 13th century]
- busy junction on Štefánikova street [on the same street there is abandoned a beautiful old swimming pool]

by Ana Filip

TXT maps

15/02/2011

One of the maps I set out to achieve was the TEXT map of the city. Its premise: the volume of written language in public spaces has increased in modern cities [or areas of cities] and the balance TXT and ICONIC COMMUNICATION now stands witness to a new vs old dichotomy in city and society [the new city makes use of lots of text as in billboards and neon signs that can draw the attention and convey their message to an increasingly fast society or a society on wheels that has to skim fast through information from behind the wheel]; the amount of text has a functional and aesthethical value and is an integral part of the postmodern urban landscape, a scattered landscape full of scattered messages.

And I had a plan for it:
- first pin down: billboards, neon signs, large advertising panels, electronic displays, plasma screens, mobile panels [e.g on trucks or taxis], illuminated panels, signboards [on poles]
- then state type as follows: IMG [image mostly/only], TXT [text mostly/only - e.g. neon signs], IMG = TXT [equal amount of text and image], IMG > TXT [predominant image] , TXT > IMG [predominant text]
- draw the ares of impact according to:
a. visibility [depending on signs and illumination, and positioning - e.g. billboard for highways are usually with their back turned to city] or presence [in the case of hybrid img/txt+sound ads]
b. esthetic value [e.g. a pink billboard by the cemetery is more visible than one adverting a swimming pool and placed by a park]
c. density [ panels that are part of a campaign are more "visible" due to their repetition]
d. message [e.g. an add describing adrenaline holidays is almost "invisible" in an area inhabited by older people with no interests in such activities]
- draw the territories of TEXT and IMAGE based on the data collected above

Needless to say that in 2 days of roaming the city one cannot achieve such a “megalomaniac” goal. But still one can get a feeling of what text territories exist and of what type of text is present there [I found districts where street art texts were more frequent that grafitti, and areas where billboards were more frequent than visible windows].

Below one example of text that was unique, overwhelming the wall, visible and catchy, and also providing a sneak peak in the world of street writers and their emotions and seasons. It is a calendar drawn on Hviezdoslavova Street.

* full view of the wall

* May

* June

* July

* August

* September

* October

* November

* December

by Ana Filip

CCTV

27/01/2011

Part of the Košice workshop was also an investigation [and if possible mapping] of CCTV cameras: where they are placed, to what purpose, who controls them and whether they are marked or not. In Slovakia and European Union there are strict laws concerning video surveillance policy regarding issues from data protection to notifying the public about the surveillance site. But not everybody respects the law – herefore we created customs stickers to mark the hidden cameras and help citizens and institutions be legal, on one hand, and be informed on the other. The stickers display the phrase that Slovak law recommends to use when notifying public about video surveillance: ““Priestor je monitorovaný kamerovým systémom””.