University of Coimbra, Portugal
From September 26 to September 30, TRU faculty and students participated in a remarkable symposium and series of workshops exploring how artists and artistic interventions contribute to the planning and development of smaller communities.
Hosted by the University of Coimbra (established in 1290), TRU’s Small Cities CURA and the University of Utrecht co-organized the event—which included scholarly presentations by Doug Buis (Visual Arts), Will Garrett-Petts (English Studies), Jim Hoffman (Theatre), Emily Hope (Visual Arts, student RA), Bonnie Klohn (Interdisciplinary Studies, student RA), Donald Lawrence (Visual Arts), David MacLennan (Sociology), Ashok Mathur (Journalism, Communication and New Media), Robin Reid (Tourism), and Gilles Viaud (Geography).
How can innovative artistic animation of public spaces contribute to building more sustainable cities?
Although there is no clear definition of a “sustainable city,” it is clear that communities must deal with complex, interrelated issues that encompass and intertwine environmental, cultural, social, and economic sustainability and resiliency. In our communities large and small, we experience a growing need to address these processes while bolstering and ensuring wide public participation in the development of new alternatives and ‘new social institutions’ to manage processes of social life. Artistic practices, interventions in public space, and public engagement strategies play significant roles in both illuminating and affecting positive cultural change and helping catalyze public participation in those transition processes that promise more sustainable cities and communities.
University of Coimbra Students
This international symposium promoted interdisciplinary knowledge exchanges and highlights practice-led research related to sustainable city-building and animation of public space, involving architects, theatre-makers, community artists, urban developers, researchers in many disciplines, and university teachers and students. Geographically, the event brought together presenters from Europe (Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), North America (Canada, United States), South America (Brazil), and the Pacific (Australia and New Zealand). Whether looking at essential principles, theories, functions, practices, models, or indicators, the symposium participants shared a common interest: exploring the multifaceted and increasingly vital connections among place, space, community, arts, engagement, sustainability and animation.
These exchanges were facilitated in two ways: (a) an international symposium, where participants shared their experiences and insights and discussed the challenges of the work; and (b) three workshops, where artists, architects, and researchers worked together, applying the research in community settings.
Doug Buis Leading Community Mapping Workshop
27-29 September 2011 – The International symposium provided a venue for participants to share and discuss good cases and theoretical approaches on the topic of how innovative artistic animation of public spaces can contribute to building more sustainable cities, with a focus on public engagement and the role of artists.
30 September 2011 – TRU faculty and students led an experiential Cultural Mapping Workshop on “Exploring Connections among Place, Creativity and Culture.” Cultural mapping is a visual and participatory method to develop and represent place-based knowledge that can also promote spatial literacy and place-rooted civic engagement.
30 September 2011 – An experiential Theatre Workshop on “Animation of Public Spaces through Innovative Artistic Practices” co-organized with the Utrecht School of the Arts and O Teatrão. The workshop focused on the exchange of practice-based knowledge and techniques to involve members of the public in creative and planning initiatives and projects related to the re-use and animation of the public realm in cities.
Donald Lawrence Setting Up Portable Camera Obscura
26-30 September 2011 – Students from the Theatre Department of the Utrecht School of the Arts, the Faculty of Humanities (Artistic Studies) of the University of Coimbra, and the ESEC (Superior School of Education) in Coimbra participated in a longer Students’ Theatre Workshop/Exchange co-organized by the Utrecht School of the Arts, Stut Theatre, and O Teatrão (Coimbra) in conjunction with the international symposium. This week-long experiment, entitled “Animation of Public Space: Artistic Intervention Experiments to Encourage Audiences to Co-Own Public Space in a Sustainable Way,” was based on research on how theatre can be used to stimulate the participation of the public in the public spaces of smaller cities with an eye to enhancing community sustainability. It concludes with an experimental public event (evening of 30 September 2011). TRU professors Jim Hoffman and Ashok Mathur worked with the theatre students and contributed to the workshop exchange.
Collectively, these events served to bring together a wide range of provocative and interactive opportunities for exchange, learning, and expanding our imagination – all traits that are invaluably contribute to the process of collectively building more sustainable cities and communities.
Documenting Public Interaction with the Camera Obscura
We want to express a special thank you to the event partners who helped organize and bring this idea to life: the Small Cities Community-University Research Alliance at Thompson Rivers University, Canada; Utrecht School for the Arts, Utrecht, The Netherlands; European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres (ENCACT) thematic area on “Urban Management and Cultural Policy of the City”; the University of Coimbra’s “Cities and Urban Cultures” MA and PhD programmes and Department of Architecture; O Teatrão, Coimbra; Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra (CAPC), Coimbra; and Stut Theatre, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
We also express our appreciation for the support received for this event from the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – FCT), the Embassy of the Netherlands in Portugal (Embaixada do Reino dos Paises Baixos), the Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha de Coimbra, and the Museu d’Água de Coimbra.
As principal organizer Nancy Duxbury notes in a recent letter, “We are now in the process of wrapping up logistics and administrative details from the event, and preparing reports to funders. I am also beginning to draft text reflecting on key messages emerging from the event, for possible publication in a journal or on websites of organizing partners…
“Finally, as you know we have some support for the publication of a book from the event, with a possibility of perhaps a second book related to cultural mapping. Given the number of videos included in the presentations, we will also investigate how best to reflect these in final documentation.”
Text supplied by the Symposium Organizing Committee
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