WALK THE TALK
TALK THE WALK
VICTORIA
Brazilian, studying Illustration.
SARA
French, studying Graphic Design.
ANNA
Hungarian, studying Illustration.
ZOEY
Greek, studying
Fine Art.
Who are we in Rotterdam?
What do we have in common?
North AIR: Mental, Elder
East FIRE: Action, Masculine
South WATER: Emotion, Child
West EARTH: Grounding, Feminine
- We are a group of international art students in Rotterdam :)
- Kralingse Plas is our common area.
- We all have a relationship to the location of Kralingse Plas (either living near it or visiting it frequently) “First place I biked to as soon as I landed and unpacked”
Medicine Wheel
Park Location
SARA's
park
in France
ZOEY's
park
in Greece
The wheel is meant to bring balance in our lives. With it we can reflect on where we are/aren't comfortable in, thus knowing what aspects to improve.
Medicine Wheel + Kralingse Plas
Context of Kralingse Plas
Socratic questioning method
We used this method to come up with questions like: Why do we have parks? Why do we need them?
We then took to instagram to ask "what the park is for you?"
The Kralingse Bos has been nominated for Best Public Space in the Netherlands several times.
Windmills De Ster and De Lelie are the only still working snuff and spice mills in the Netherlands. These 18th century mills are national monuments and property of the municipality of Rotterdam.
There was also a "Dutch Woodstock" at the park. The Festival became an influential event, as it turned out to be the actual beginning of the Dutch tolerance policy towards marijuana.
- We wanted to combine our medicine wheel and location, and so asked “what element is missing from the park?”.
- There is Wind, Earth and Water… but there is no fire.
- We wanted to bring the element of FIRE to balance the experience at the park.
- How can we bring Fire into the Kralingen Bos space without bringing aggression?
- FIRE as ACTION not AGGRESSION.
INSPO & IDEAS
The BLACK LIFES MATTER movement has been on our minds a lot lately, and we thought of talking about it with our action.
The park being a calm place with a view of the busy and loud city... we though it needed some more action.
"A Sunday Afternoon" by Georges Seurat.
FIRST IDEA
- Performance
- STILL FIRE
- Peacefull protest
- Show contrast by bringing city action to the park.
- "Past Times" by Kerry James Marshall.was done as a commentary on "A Sunday Afternoon" by Georges Seurat and the racial segregation of the time. Both paintings on opposite sides of the Chicago lake.
"Pull"
by
Frans
Van
Lent
"Past Times" by Kerry James Marshall.
THIRD IDEA
Tree Marking
It is a forest management technique used in forests around the world. It is as simple as its name – individual trees are marked in a forest stand before the stand is “treated”, or has some of the trees cut.
What if we had a form of peaceful protest? Where we offered people fabric and they can write and share what they want and then tie it around a tree. Hopefully having the whole forest with these markings looking like a spreading fire.
This made me think of the RED REBELS from Extinction Rebellion. Their protest performance in red with the red fabric blowing in the wind, resembles fire movements.
This would be an interactive social piece as well considering the stories and words people would be able to share in support of the BLM movement.
SECOND IDEA
We are seeing now how many of the statutes enacted to horner historical figures, are being taken down or vandalized as a reminder of our systemic racism.
We thought of creating a huge art work to be placed in the park like a statue. However, this more would celebrate and symbolizes the fight of anti-racism from BLM.
Our piece would be built of mirrors, kind of like a reflection of society.
Rose DeSiano, Absent Monuments
Rufus King Park
- These mirrored obelisks will stand upon blue and white Dutch Delft photographic tiles which interact with Native American pattern work.
"Absent Monuments"
by
Rose DeSiano.
Mirror installation at Arken Museum of Modern Art
Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, CA More
Social
Project
"Before I Die"
RED REBELS from Extinction Rebellion
Eindhoven cross protest markings
PROTOTYPING
CONCLUSION
Our concluding idea incorporates a new way of bringing action and “fire” into a space that generally represents tranquility. We want people to be in a space that requires self-reflection and a confrontation of what it feels like to be a part of our society. Our group discussions followed the current BLM movement protests, the medicine wheel, the Kralingen park, and a space for people to create interaction and conversation.
So we decided to create an installation in the Kralingse Bos. The installation focuses on mirror sculptures that embody a flame shape, to symbolise the fire we want to introduce into the space. These mirrors will give a space for people to look at themselves and question who they are and what they know. These sculptures also provide interaction, as people can write on them which can lead to further conversation. The goal is for people to read the thoughts of others, and resonate or reflect on their own role in society.
We decided to use sculptures as our main way to communicate our message, because currently statues are being taken down due to their historical context. Sculptures and statues that do not represent society now should not have a place and be glorified. This act of solidarity amongst people has created mass conversation on why these statues were even allowed to exist for so long. For our sculptures, we wanted to create these as a way to show that sculptures can also be placed within cities in order to accurately reflect its surroundings.
How can we take this project further? Inspired by the idea of fire and action, this project could be taken to different areas of Rotterdam, and even expand to other parts of the Netherlands. The use of mirrors and people being able to write on them also allows for a greater social interaction as it can be posted on social media, creating a bigger conversation. These conversations could bring up how flawed our society is, and what we can do to make it better. It also helps keep this conversation alive.