Roots & Remedies 2013...Imagining a Future Transformed by our Victories

The Design Studio had the opportunity to join over 200 activists from around the country in San Antonio this past weeked for Roots & Remedies 2, aka "Connect. Plot. Build." As Makani Themba, Executive Director of The Praxis Project, explained, "“From the Dreamers to the Dream Defenders, to the striking food and retail workers, people are standing up for justice all over the country, and, in fact all across the world. Roots & Remedies is the space where we bust out of the traditional silos, and create the space for organizers to strategize on their own terms.”

DS4SI helped break the silos down with a Vision Lab that took participants ahead to 2113 and a chance to work together to envision a future transformed by our victories of today...

More photos and video coming soon... More on the conference at Roots & Remedies.

MPPP--What folks shared with us

After weeks of dissecting mounds of data, our talented project managers, Diego Perez Lacera and Corina McCarthy-Fadel teamed up with graphic designer Mikey Guadarrama to share back to you and the community what folks had to say about Uphams and the planning processes impacting their neighborhood.

For the FULL REPORT (including all raw data), CLICK HERE.

Once again, for the FULL REPORT (including all raw data), CLICK HERE.

And many thanks to our amazing artists--Cedric Douglas and Philippe Lejeune, our gracious hosts--Uphams Corner Main Street and the Strand, our program support--MIT's Civic Media Lab Co-Design Class, DSNI and Ines Soto-Palmarin, and our generous funders--The ArtPlace Initiative, The Boston Foundation, The Surdna Foundation and Open Society Foundation.

Data Synthesis for Making Planning Processes Public

Data synthesis is underway! We spoke with hundreds of residents of Uphams Corner about the planning processes happening in their home during the MPPP exhibit. We are accounting the information gathered from residents and preparing to give it to the agencies involved in the planning processes. A full report is on the way. Here is a sample of what residents have to say:  

Special Events All Week @ Making Planning Processes Public

 

Hope to see you at #MPPP! Many thanks to our partner artists--Cedric Douglas and Philippe Lejeune, guest speakers and tour guides--Ines Soto-Palmarin and DSNI, and  generous hosts--Upham's Corner Main Street and The Strand, and funders--The Boston Foundation and ArtPlace. And to fabulous volunteers too numerous to list out--we couldn't do it without all of you.

Making Planning Processes Public in Upham's Corner

As part of our work with Upham's Corner ArtPlace, the Design Studio is putting on another pop-up exhibit in Upham's Corner. This one, entitled "Making Planning Processes Public" aims to do just that, as Upham's is slated for multiple types of investment and redevelopment. The exhbit is another chance to put "creative placemaking" in the hands of community residents and to use the skills and creativity of local artists to invite residents deeper into the planning processes.

We are excited that Upham's Corner Main Street is hosting us again and thriled to be working with local arists Cedric Dougles and Philippe Lejeune. (They're going to blow your mind!) We are grateful to funding from The Boston Foundation and ArtPlace, and partnerships with Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and MIT's Center for Civic Media's awesome Co-Design class. Finally, our MPPP interns, Corina McCarthy-Fadel and Diego Perez Lacera have been tireless and invaluable!

Please contact us if you would like to volunteer! We would love to have you.  

volunteer [at] ds4si.org

The exhibit will run from April 29th--May 5th, from 3-7pm each day. More event details coming soon.

Kimani Gray, Afrophobia and Systems Change

 

Photo from NBCnewyork.com

On March 9th, 2013, 16-year old Kimani Gray was shot and killed by two plainclothes NYPD police officers.  The East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn responded with protests, vigils and public outrage. Since Gray’s shooting death falls on the heels of a series of such acts nationally, we at DS4SI want to share how we are thinking about this problem, with the humble hope that it will be a useful tool for activists around the country.

Click here for a short PDF on using our "Five S" methodology to think through the structures, systems, sensations, scale and symbols that can help us set the problem within the larger national context of Afrophobia, as well as helping us think about new ways to address the shooting and connect it to other complex problems facing our communities.

Two Local Artists Chosen for Our "Making Planning Processes Public" Exhibit

We are proud to announce the two artists we've selected for our upcoming interactive installation entitled “Making Planning Processes Public” in Upham's Corner. The installation will be open to the public from Apriil 29th--May 5th in the Upham's Corner Main Street office next to the Strand.

Cedric Douglas (above), a local artist with his art studio on Humphries Street, was chosen for the integrated public signage commission. He brings a rich background in using everyday objects to communicate messages to the public.

 

Philippe Lejeune of Brookline was selected for his creative installations that engage the public in rethinking their subjectivity. Both bring a wealth of experience about public art, installations and the Boston area to our art partnership.

We took our artists on a tour of Upham’s Corner to start imagining what the full installation and integrated signage will feel and look like.

Philippe Lejeune, left, with Cedric Douglas, right, at Upham's Corner intersection of Columbia Ave and Dudley Street.

Design Studio's Kenny Bailey with artists (and another local artist) in front of Cedric's art studio on Humphries Street near Upham's Corner.

Cedric and Philippe thinking about possible spaces for signage or installations...

 

This upcoming installation is part of our work with the Upham's Corner ArtPlace initiative, funded by ArtPlace and The Boston Foundation.

 

New Public Kitchen video up!

Many thanks to Kelly Creedon for putting together this beautiful video of last Fall's Public Kitchen event.

Inspired by the family kitchen as a gathering place, the second prototype of the Public Kitchen invited Upham's Corner and Dudley Street residents to feast, learn, share, imagine, unite and claim public space. Hundreds joined us as the Public Kitchen launched a week of fresh food, cooking classes & competitions, a mobile kitchen and Hub, food-inspired art and much more…

Public Kitchen was an intervention aimed at social and food justice-- an experiment in how more vibrant public infrastructures can improve the quality of our lives. Our art and design team included Chef Nadine Nelson of Global Local Gourmet and the Golden Arrows design collective.  Many thanks to our community partners : Upham's Corner Main Street, The Food Project, Shirley Eustis House, Haley House, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative  and City Growers. And to our funders: The Praxis Project's Communities Creating Healthy Environments initiative, ArtPlace and The Boston Foundation.

Black Love From Brazil

Thanks to Hemispheric Institute's Encuentro 2013, I met Tiago Gualberto. He's a visual and conceptual artist in Sao Paulo and his work interrogates how blackness works within the Brazilian social imaginary. His project "Procuro Negro 2013" is a testament to his interrogation and completely falls within DS4SI's BHM 2013 theme of "Black Love and the Black Image". The written piece below is Tiago's description of Procuro Negro and is written in Portuguese! Much love to Black Lusophonia.

Procuro Negro, 2013

 As discussões sobre a representatividade das populações negras felizmente não são novidade, embora estejamos ainda muito distantes de uma sensação de conforto e tranquilidade. Este cenário se aplica a todos os campos da nossa sociedade, seja no setor cultural, social ou econômico.

A repetida e ingrata posição que é dada à nossa imagem insiste, e de forma trágica dá manutenção, ao lugar de subserviência a nós imposta historicamente. Reproduz, portanto, ideologias e condicionamentos que lutamos a todo momento em despir. Significa ter fé, pois precisamos acreditar em algo que não vemos.

De fato esta solidão me atravessa em muitos momentos da vida. Ora assistindo a televisão, observando a publicidade brasileira, ao sair com amigos para jantar. No amor. E foi observando anúncios que buscavam relacionamentos que me surpreendi ao deparar-me com a semelhança entre estes e os anúncios popularmente conhecidos como “escravo fugido”. Além das menções óbvias, tais como o sexo, a altura, o peso e a idade, percebi que era possível extrair de ambos mais do que uma descrição.

Certamente os anúncios oferecidos durante o período colonial não buscavam por sexo ou compania. É evidente o quanto estão contaminados por perspectivas racistas e exploradoras de um corpo coisificado: instrumento caro ao trabalho. Trata-se de um objeto que precisa ser recuperado.

Nos anúncios atuais, presentes em sites, jornais e até mesmo em espaços públicos não é possível determinar o que se busca. São tantos os desejos, anseios e fetiches. O mais importante é que se busca. A busca me instigou a planejar esta intervenção.

Minha primeira ação foi, segundo os atuais moldes de anúncio, descrever-me desta forma: “NEGRO, 1,70 m e 70 kg – i.mblack@yahoo.com.br”. Com estas pequenas etiquetas era possível contactar-me por escrito. A segunda etapa consiste em responder a todas as mensagens recebidas com apenas esta frase:

“O que você procura?”

E por fim reuni estes textos em forma de cartazes. Pintei-os como já o fiz antes, como cartazes de supermercado a serem afixados em espaços públicos. Descartei o nome dos autores e das autoras. Dentre algumas percepções destaco as variadas imagens que se criam em torno da negritude. Determinações corporais, resquícios da objetivização, desabafos protegidos pelo anonimato. Longas procuras.

"Making Planning Processes Public"-- 2 New Art Commissions

We are pleased to announce two new art commissions in conjunction with our work with Upham's Corner ArtPlace. After the success of Public Kitchen, we are bringing another interactive pop-up exhibit to the Upham's Corner neighborhood. This exhibit, to open in late April or early May, is called "Making Planning Processes Public." Each commission will pay $2,500.

Art Commission 1: Exhibit Development (PDF with full description)

The commissioned artist / art team will work with our core content team to create an interactive exhibit that will:

  • enable visitors to understand the planning going on for their neighborhood (transit-oriented development related to the Fairmount Indigo Line, etc)  as well as its possible repercussions
  • support visitors in seeing themselves as able to step into and impact planning process and knowing what their options are for this
  • enable DS4SI to easily collect data about what Upham’s residents want for their community so that we can share it back to them and to planners

Art Commission 2: Public Signage (PDF with full description)

The Design Studio for Social Intervention seeks an artist / art team to collaborate with us on creating unexpected signage in Upham’s Corner in conjunction with our pop-up exhibit entitled “Making Planning Processes Public.”

The corresponding public signage is aimed at integrating the invisible planning processes into everyday life. For example, if a resident knows the local bus schedule, could they know the local planning schedule? If they can read the menu in the window of a local restaurant, can they read the menu of planning options there too? Click the link above to see more information on the commission.

 

Interested in partnering with us through either of the above commissions? We'd love to hear from you! Applications are due on February 28th. And please spread the word...

Many thanks to our ArtPlace lead partners--Upham's Corner Main Street and Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and to our funder, The Boston Foundation.

From the Archives - Terry Marshall on Dance Court

A few Saturdays ago I was invited to the 2nd Dance Court.  The Dance Court is a project by the Design Studio for Social Justice that asks the question “what if Dance courts were a part of the ubiquitous landscape?” I figured “outdoor party? Great!” but after having visited it, I realized that it was much more. As someone of Caribbean background I know something about public life. It’s Called Carnival. But that is a once a year big event. What if the mobile euphoric living experience that is carnival was to be had everyday? What if it was a part of everyday life in the same way that one can choose to play basketball or soccer with friends? How would life be different? This is the question that Dance Court poses.

As I arrived to the area of the tennis/dance court where the sound system and people were it didn't seem like much. There were very few people early on. The basketball courts next to us were alive with many bodies (majority males) and there was a heavy police presence. But that didn't deter the dance court dancers. DJ Keith Donaldson starting playing old soul and House music and feet began to move. As more DC participants showed up and filled up the dance floor the music became more intense. The energy from the dancers feeds the DJ who in turns feeds that into the music which feeds back the dancers. This creates a circular cycle of energy that moves forward the progression of the dance. Henceforth the term “the party kept it moving”. The is one of the effects of outdoor dancing. That energy casted a net that eventually caught up some of the regulars around the park. Many of the folk who hang around the park in the daytime can be seen drinking their days away. They are usually the ones who society cast off as hopeless. But on this day they were dancing their days away. They bought some of the most intense dancing. Dance court seemed to become this safe space in the park. The social aspect of the music and dancing seem to create a different environment.

Many people bought of there families with small children being included in the activities. A mother took out some chalk for her children and they soon entertained us to an impromptu art show. As they designed many pictures and shapes on the courts floor adults began to flock around them and take pictures. By the end of the day the Dance Court seems to grow from its original purpose to something larger. It creates space, it shapes a new environment and it becomes a laboratory of Life alchemy.

Arturo Escobar on Ontologically Oriented Design

Why should design be considered ‘ontological’?  The initial answer to this question is straightforward: “We encounter the deep question of design when we recognize that in designing tools we are designing ways of being” (Winograd and Flores 1986: xi).  Understood as “the interaction between understanding and creation” (4), design is ontological in that it is a conversation about possibilities.  One more way to get at the ontological dimension of design is by addressing “the broader question of how a society engenders inventions whose existence in turn alters that society” (4-5).   Computer technologies (as printing, the automobile, or television before) are of course dramatic cases of radical innovations that opened up unprecedented domains of possibilities.  But every tool and technology is ontological in the sense that, however humbly or minutely, it inaugurates a set of rituals, ways of doing, and modes of being. They contribute to shape what it is to be human.

Now, a more direct way to talk about it might be: "ontologically-oriented design refers to a design
practice that is self-reflexive about the kinds of social, cultural, and ecological ways of being in the world that
it fosters.  It also seeks to transform through the design process those practices, objects, institutions, etc.
that contribute to create worlds and situations marked by social injustice,
cultural domination, and ecological destruction"

Public Kitchen Images...

Our "Hub" at Upham's Corner Main Street

DS4SI's Public Kitchen connected hundreds of residents in Upham's Corner and down Dudley Street. We hosted a week of the "pop-up food community center" at Upham's Corner Main Street (many thanks to Max and all our guests!) We also enjoyed multiple meals, events and artists at the amazing Dudley Greenhouse and the lovely Shirley Eustis House. Here are some peeks into the action...

Lead chef Nadine Nelson cooked up some amazing spreads!

Toni Tipton-Martin's amazing images from her Jemima Code Art Exhibit

A young participant uses our Mobile Ideation Kit

The "extreme radical chef" competition in action at Friday's Unconference

City Growers and Dudley Greenhouse and Red Fire Farm offered us amazing fresh local vegetables

Feast Mass raised and donated $1500 for a miini grant on Saturday

We'll keep you posted as we move forward on digesting all we learned during our 10 days of Public Kitchen! If you were a part of it and would like to share ideas for how to move it forward or re-imagine it, feel free to email us at publickitchen [at] ds4si.org

Public Kitchen was an intervention aimed at social and food justice-- an experiment in how more vibrant public infrastructures can improve the quality of our lives. Our art and design team included Chef Nadine Nelson of Global Local Gourmet and the Golden Arrows design collective.  Many thanks to our community partners : Upham's Corner Main Street, The Food Project, Shirley Eustis House, Haley House, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative  and City Growers.

 
 
 

The Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI) partners with communities, artists, and social justice practitioners to imagine, demonstrate, and collectively rebuild places to be more just and vibrant. Get in touch to inquire about art commissions, residencies or to hire us to run a creativity lab or other generative process for your organization, coalition or campaign.