a different kind of citizenship
American sociologist Oldenburg was one of the first to recognise the role of places such as coffee shops, bookstores, pubs, and hairdressing salons as spaces for socialising and building community. He referred to them as third spaces: un- planned places, beyond work and home, where unrelated people could connect.
It is not surprising then that when I talk to people about the precinct they often comment on how much they enjoy the local coffee shops, bookstores and pubs.
But what’s been exciting for me is the discovery of groups of local residents initiating their own cultural activities across such spaces. One such remarkable cluster of local citizens is the Kensington Arts Group. Formed over six months ago by Kensington residents, they have developed a unique arts program including music and literature evenings in the local pubs, and sustainable visual arts projects in collaboration with local schools – an extraordinary feast of cultural activities for the enjoyment of everyone in and around Kensington.
Such community driven initiatives are I think a reflection of a different kind of citizenship in action – an inspiring form of artistic citizenship – one that uses the arts as the vehicle for building community and affirming our humanity. I look forward to more developments like this.
Teresa Crea Lead Creative
Art on the Street
I believe that the debate about street art is unnecessarily combative. It’s just paint on a wall- it doesn’t hurt anyone. Funnily enough I think that the people who clean the walls and the artists who paint them have the same intention, to contribute to and beautify public space. The two sides just have different aesthetic values. Generally we are becoming more accustomed to street art and its not as scary as it was a while ago, and that’s a good thing. Some artists have an elitist approach, they want street art to remain intimidating and edgy. I think that’s important too but there’s plenty of room for both approaches. When I started making street art it was ridden with angst. I soon realised that doesn’t draw anybody in. Angst only attracts more angst. The best thing about this art form is that it makes you observe the public space differently. Through a dialogue between the audience and the artists you begin to realise that public space belongs to all of us. It’s ours to play with and, above all, have fun!
Peter Drew Street Artist
City Lights and Digital Campfires
The spread of digital signage throughout urban spaces has been prolific and led almost unanimously by commercial interest; I see amazing potential for social, philosophical, art and design industries to embrace this canvas to invigorate, enliven, and change for the better the places we live in. Modern day light and lighting in the form of digital pixels has become a powerful tool for communication, as well as an aesthetic and physical meeting point for citizens, providing a place for a new form of ‘civic communication’ and exchange.
Digital light today replaces the firelight, which was the symbolic centre for family and community gatherings in ancient history. At that time it symbolised warmth, shelter, security. Today sitting around a tribal fire replaced by the LED or LCD pixel TV’s and digital screens. These screens and images have a mysterious and powerful presence, almost as if they represent echoes, traces of forgotten dreams reappearing in our modern city landscapes.
Jimmy Mcgilchrist, Media Artist, Creative Director, rezon8
soft voices in quiet corners: other cities #1
I remember coming across the website for a project called [murmur] toronto some five years ago while Sasha (Grbich) and I were researching participatory art projects as part of the development of a project up in Cairns that we completed early this year… (more…)
My Street
Mail my Street
I love living in the NPSP area and first moved to the area in 1994 as a uni student. I love the historic architecture, the tree-lined avenues, the high-street feel of the Parade and the open spaces. I also like the feeling of community: our street hosts a xmas party every year in our local reserve, we pick up our FoodConnect veggie box from around the corner, I know my next-door neighbours well and we look out for each other. The social capital in our council area is strong…and yet…I think there is more we can do to ensure that we can connect in new and exciting ways. If you are reading this blog post, you by definition have access to the internet. Odds are you have a facebook page to connect with your friends, possibly a LinkedIn page to connect with work acquaintances, and just maybe a Twitter account to share your ideas with your community of interest, whether that be politics or pigeon-racing. But how can you connect electronically with your neighbours?
I live on a street with 60 or so houses. If I had the time, I could leaflet my neighbours to arrange a fruit swap, playgroup, or car pool. Sadly, leafletting is time-consuming. If, on the other hand, I want to send an email to the neighbours on my street, I can’t. While I know their physical addresses, I don’t know their email addresses. But what if someone, say a Council, established a database where I could choose to link my email address to my physical address? I could email everyone on my street, or in my neighbourhood, with the click of a website button without ever having to know their email details.Of course, there are technical issues to be resolved, such as privacy, safe usage and spam, but I’m sure these could be worked through in a small scale prototype. Imagine then, the enhanced ability for neighbours to connect and communicate, to share and create, across our communities. Social innovation works best when it not only improves lives, but also creates new relationships and enhances society’s capacity to act. What better way than to make it easier for neighbours to connect with one another?
Brenton Caffin, Local Resident, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for Social Innovation
