urban cookbook for direct action

we moved back!

2007-07-06T11:13:00.001+03:00

we have merged all the blogs into one.
check urbanistika.ee

KRAX::: International meeting of social creativity facing urban conflicts

2007-03-27T13:45:00.001+02:00

KRAX::: Encuentro internacional de creatividad social frente a conflictos urbanos

http://krax.citymined.org/jornadas

KRAX: open urban network... Proposal from Barcelona... !

2007-02-14T20:35:00.000+02:00

Hi urbanistika friends!!!
My name is Mariano and I´m writing you from Barcelona as part of City
Mine(d), an international organisation of urban interventionists. Right
now we´re developing a project called KRAX, which is an investigation, a
mapping, into urban creativity and civic participation as ways to
confront imposed changes in neighbourhoods and cities around the world.
We are focusing on those "cracks in the city" that arise as a result of
urban plans that only benefit economic interests, but are no good for
the inhabitants of the city.

As the postindustrial city model is repeating all around the world,
these "urban aggressions" are found everywhere. But that´s only the bad
part of the story... The good part of it (and that´s why we started
KRAX...) is that also everywhere the neighbours are standing and
fighting for their rights to the city. People´s mentality is changing,
and now they want to be active participants of the decisions made over
their street, square, neighbourhood or city... So, KRAX is not a
research on the urban problems that cities are facing around the world;
it is more a "catalogue", a database of creative and powerful tools and
experiences coming from the neighbours themselves. We are in contact
with movements/collectives/organizations from Tokyo, Caracas, Madrid,
Santiago de Chile, Chicago, Mostar, Harlem, Buenos Aires, Sevilla,
London, ...

One of the ideas behind KRAX is to build a Documentation Center. This
space is intended to be a learning place, where you can know about other
initiatives around the world, and we want to make it available
physically as well as virtually. This Doc Center is growing thanks to
the contribution of the different groups: we are getting in touch with
each one of them to gather material that can be interesting for the
whole network...
We are also, and this is another idea behind KRAX, organizing the KRAX
Conference at the end of April (24-28th). This Conference is a gathering
of several initiatives from different neighbourhoods from Barcelona with
groups from different cities. We are starting to develop the program for
the Conference along with neighbours (tomorrow we have a big meeting
with some of them), and we will begin arising the same questions to the
KRAX mailing-list participants (krax@moviments.net).

If you can tell us something about what´s going on in Tallinn or
Estonia, it would be great! Also, if you want to write something about
the situation around there (or write something about cities, in
general...), you can send it to us and we will publish it on the KRAX
blog (http://krax.citymined.org).

Ok, that´s all... A long email already....
Let´s keep in touch!!!
Mariano.
-

Scandal around destroying a graffiti

2007-02-11T13:46:00.000+02:00

I happened to see a surprising article in the Times.
While street art is seen as something much more than dirt in many places and Banksy (here random pic) is a renowned graffiti artists who's works sell for £ 25.000 (!),
it still strikes me that graffiti is valued so much that destroying it makes it to the news:

Council cleaners jetwash away Banksy’s graffiti art

Nicola Woolcock, The Times, February 10, 2007

When council cleaners spotted graffiti 24 hours before the official opening of a new London square, they enthusiasically removed every trace of the offending drawings.

Unfortunately, the two stencils they wiped out were drawn by Banksy, the subversive artist. One of his works fetched more than £100,000 in auction at Sotheby’s this week.

To make matters worse, the street cleaners did not deem the graffiti worthy of being photographed before destruction, as is their usual policy. Nor did they seek permission from the building’s owners.

The council has now admitted its blunder and apologised.

The street cleaners, armed with jetwashers, had been ordered to touch up the area before the official opening of Gillett Square in Hackney last November.

Two days before the ceremony, Hackney Cooperative Developments (HCD) decided to uncover a 4ft Banksy stencil of a girl wearing a frilly dress and a gas mask. It had been covered by plywood for several months.

It was scrubbed off the day after, along with another Banksy picture on their building of a man’s face.

Adam Hart, executive director of HCD, wrote to Hackney Council complaining that the murals had been removed, saying: “These were famous artworks by Banksy and of considerable value and there is likely to be something of an outcry.” He said later: “Perhaps the nature of the whole thing is that graffiti is ephemeral, so maybe Banksy would approve.”

The council is now drawing up a list of graffiti artwork in the borough that should not be removed. Mr Hart said: “It’s something they need to be aware of so they don’t eradicate everything that gives character to the area.”

urban cookbook for direct action

2006-12-19T12:49:00.000+02:00

The concept of the blog was conceived by me and Sander about a year ago and we were quite thrilled to hear that Regina had come to a similar idea. It is meant as a user-updated archive and forum for urban activists who want to creatively address problems of public space, planning, exclusion of minorities, "invisible" groups and their social problems and so on. Our plan of the site's development is divided into two periods

At first stage we thought of a news roll or blog type possibility to enter new or past events that had taken place in any city with the aim to offer a solution or to address a certain problem. The site would contain an entry-page where it is possible to submit one's stories (they are reviewed by administrators), then displayed on the website with the possibility of commenting (for registered users), adding pictures, video clips and links to media coverage of the event. Another part of the website is a forum for general and theoretical discussions for example on the causal effectiveness of the projects, different ways of making problems visible (art or action or both, doing something about it or complaining to public officials or both etc), implementing similar projects in different contexts and so on. It would be strictly in English hoping to attract a possible wide public.

The second stage is implemented, when enough data is collected and experience gained through trial and error. Different sections are created and a search engine added for users to find the topics that they are interested more easily. A map with all the cities and actions that have taken place there created. At final stages a rating function added (if a critical mass of constant users is accumulated) and hopefully the need for administration will dissipate as daily users and visitors become critics with the power of voting out irrelevant events. The site should become a self-regulating open forum for anyone who wishes to change the cities for the better.

Text by Rasmus Kask