Connected Communities Cultural activism in the community

Michael Buser & Jane Arthurs

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Cultural activism in the community Michael Buser & Jane Arthurs

Executive Summary This discussion paper explores literature and debates on cultural activism and communities of place. Cultural activism is defined as a set of creative practices and activities which challenge dominant interpretations and constructions of the world while presenting alternative socio-political and spatial imaginaries in ways which challenge relationships between art, , participation and spectatorship. In our paper, we present a small range of cultural activist practices (e.g., , subvertising, rebel clowning) which call upon irony, humour and the carnivalesque to disrupt commonly-held understandings and ways of constructing the world. Our broad aim is to tease out the ways these practices imagine and conduct ‘resistance’, present future imaginaries and engage audiences in situated community environments. In doing so, we consider how temporality and ephemerality might contribute to the development of radical, autonomous spaces and opportunities for democratic debate and political contestation. The paper also summarises associated scholarly and community-based work including the project seminar where 60 participants discussed cultural activism as well as collaborative work with activists in the Bristol neighbourhood of Stokes Croft.

Researchers and Project Partners Michael Buser, Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments, University of the West of England

Jane Arthurs, Director of Research, Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education, University of the West of England

Key words Cultural Activism; Creative Practice; Resistance; Intervention; Temporality; Performativity; Rebel Clown; Culture Jamming;

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Cultural activism in the community

This review examines cultural activism, a type of organising where ‘art, activism, performance and politics meet, mingle and interact’ (Verson, 2007: 172). This includes engagement with a broad spectrum of creative practice such as theatre, performance, music, art, poetry and literature and other means of engaging sensory experiences as a means to challenge dominant ways of seeing and constructing the world. Notable examples include culture jamming, subvertising, muralling, rebel clowning, urban knitting, guerrilla urbanism, political theatre and many other whimsical, non-violent approaches to and activism.

In discussing cultural activism, contemporary accounts often bypass the political activism of the 1970s and 1980s around race, immigration, and women’s rights, youth, LGBT rights and other forms of identity-based activism which also displayed both creative and political elements (see for example, Cohen, 1993). Rather, scholarly reviews commonly situate these practices within the lineage of the 20th century avant-garde movements of the Dadists, Surrealists (Fenton, 2004), ’s Society of the Spectacle (1967) and Situationists International (Ford 2005; Scholl, 2010; Grindon 2010) as well as the counter-culture activist movements of the 1960s typified by the and the Yippies (Firat and Kuryel, 2010).

While it is impossible to point to a single, unifying political ideology, cultural activism is commonly framed by diverse concerns around social and , authoritarianism, , , globalisation and the pursuit of reinvigorated lived experience. The most visible of these efforts has been the activism surrounding the alter-globalisation and anti-capitalism movements typified by summit disruption , Global Days of Action and the Occupy movement. Our interest in this paper is to tease out implications for ‘place-based’ community activism and environments – situating these processes in a neighbourhood orientated concept of community activism.

This paper is framed by three broad concepts positioning cultural activism as a set of activities which: a) challenge dominant interpretations and constructions of the world while b) presenting alternative socio-political and spatial imaginaries c) in ways which challenge relationships between art, politics, participation and spectatorship.

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Challenging perspectives As a critique of hegemonic constructions of the world, cultural activism can be seen as a practice of cultural resistance (Duncombe, 2002). David Pinder describes cultural activism as ‘those radical and creative practices that are ‘critical and politicized in relation to dominant power relations and their spatial constitution’ (2008: 731). It is an activism that seeks to disrupt commonly-held assumptions and expectations about the world. The contemporary resurgence of cultural activism is often traced to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a rebellion founded by indigenous people in the state of Chiapas, Mexico in 1994 who sought to challenge global processes of neoliberal capitalism (Johnston, 2000; Carrigan, 1995; Johnston and Laxer, 2003). While the initial armed uprising was quickly repressed, the Zapatista’s ongoing struggles and global calls to resist neoliberalism inspired and energised activists around the world (Ryan, 2008). For activists and academics alike, the Zapatistas re-defined and revised ideas around Justice and liberty for a post-modern age, challenging subordination in Mexico by transforming their ethnic identity ‘from fragmented, ethnically distinct communities to pluricultural coexistence in regional and national arenas’ (Nash, 1997: 261). For some, this worldwide rebellion and call to ‘practice Zapatismo in any way possible, in any place possible’ was a precursor to the alter-globalism protests of the late 1990s as well as a more general reintroduction of the ‘carnivalesque’ in protest and activist movements.

In the UK, carnivalesque tactics are commonly associated with activist groups such as Reclaim the Streets (RTS) and the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA). Founded in London in the early 1990s, RTS famously merged protests with parties, ‘taking over streets and turning them into pulsing, dancing, temporary carnivals in their demand for public space’ (Duncombe, 2007: 68). In retelling the movement’s origins, John Jordon noted the emergence of ‘a new breed of artist activist’ (2002: 350) who called upon Situationist-inspired tactics of détournement – e.g., closing roads to traffic and holding parties in the streets. This reversal of hierarchy and order – the transformation of so-called dead motorway into living human space – was celebrated by RTS and their carnivaleque construction of ‘a world inside out’ (Bakhtin 1973).

CIRCA, another example of ‘tactical carnival’, was founded in 2003 in response to President Bush’s visit to the UK. Through their non-violent, clowning tactics at summit meetings and other sites of intervention, CIRCA sought to upset accepted lines of confrontation, confusing and subverting dominant cultural codes (Scholl, 2010) and, in the process, created ‘joyous, diverse, fluid and life affirming’ forms of direct action and (St. John 2008: 179-180). As with RTS, CIRCA used performativity, creativity, détournement and the carnivalesque towards counter-hegemonic possibilities through interventions in specific sites.

Alternative imaginaries For scholar-activists such as Stephen Duncombe, cultural activism’s potential is found not so much in its critique of spectacular society but in its ability to connect with people’s dreams. For example, in addition to disruptive interventions, RTS and CIRCA situated their activism in a positive vision of the

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future and a change-oriented focus that was experienced in collaboration and dialogue with particular political struggles. Duncombe (2007) envisages such ‘ethical spectacles’ – prefigurative, participatory, open-ended, transparent and self-organising forms of activism – as attempts to bring new worlds and possibilities into being. Paul Routledge highlights how the practice of cultural activism can de-programme normative spatial functions and consensus realities by articulating new imaginaries and meanings. For example, the presence and actions of rebel clowns at summit protests temporarily transformed spaces of intimidation and coercion into ‘clown spaces of play and mockery’ (2012: 443). This ephemeral break with socio-spatial norms mirrors the temporary autonomous breaches RTS activists created as they reclaimed streets for human use and enjoyment. These intentional disruptions and disorientations of ‘consensus reality’ subvert the normative functions of space through a kind of ‘festal hacking’ – ‘a ritual of de-reification which renders power and contradiction visible at its most central and reified sites, practices which enable the performance and construction of lived alternatives’ (St John 2008: 172). While there is clearly evidence of durability in particular situations (e.g., Christiania in Copenhagen), it is worth questioning the value of ‘tactical carnival’ if it is predicated on the quick dispersion of the open spaces it creates (Bogad, 2010: 196). Further, as temporary outlets for ‘letting off steam’ and ‘sanctioned transgression’ might these activities reinforce prevailing structures of privilege and hierarchy (St. John, 2008: 175). Reflecting on neighbourhood-based activism in Brussels, Corijn and Groth argue that the forgotten spaces, those left aside by market and state forces (e.g., abandoned buildings) provide unique opportunities for temporary re-appropriation and political-cultural activism, fostering a type of insurgent urbanism which clashes with and challenges dominant perspectives on urban meaning and regulation. Hakim Bey’s Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) moves this politics of temporality a step further. Advocating disappearance and permanent temporality, these ‘pirate utopias’ avoid spectacular society altogether; ‘As soon as the TAZ is named (represented, mediated), it must vanity, it will vanish…once again invisible because undefinable in terms of the Spectacle (Bey, 2007: 93). What is particularly engaging about these frames is their potential to re-politicise space. For example, not only might ephemerality circumvent or escape co-optation and recuperation, but these conditions might also enable unique frameworks for radical thought and action through direct (temporary) disruptive engagement with hegemonic authority or an outright refusal to participate ‘in spectacular violence, to withdraw from the area of simulation, to disappear’. (Bey, 2007: 93). At the level of ‘neighbourhood’ or communities of place, this temporality can be seen as a possible contrast to processes of gentrification often attributed to artists (e.g., Hoxton) and the emergence of ‘creative quarters’ which position cultural institutions and activities as a means of urban regeneration.

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Politics and art in cultural activism These practices connect with longstanding debates within media and performance studies, around the role of socially engaged art, community publics, participation and conceptions of audience ‘spectatorship’. For groups such as RTS and CIRCA, it is the very nature of open and participatory activist encounters which lead to emancipatory moments and the development of sensuous solidarities (Routledge 2012). Similarly, Sandlin and Milam argue that the culture jamming practices of groups such as Adbusters and the Reverend Billy create powerful sites of learning and foster a type of participatory, resistant cultural production. By enabling an active participation and engaging learners corporeally, the authors argue, these creative practices hold the potential to transform passivity into action and to draw participants into the creation of a community politic (2008: 330). The political potential of these ‘performative encounters’ is underpinned by a belief that through processes of active participation and reciprocal communication, each individual is capable of instigating and propelling change (Kanngieser 2010). This activation of the individual draws upon long-standing concerns with audience non-intervention, exemplified by the Situationists’ attempts to eliminate passivity – a symptom of the Society of the Spectacle. Indeed, Bishop notes that since the 1960s, artistic attempts to encourage participation have generally been associated with: a) A desire to create an active subject, empowered by the experience of physical of symbolic participation b) A gesture of ceding authorial control through an egalitarian collaborative creativity. c) A perceived crisis in community and collective responsibility (Bishop, 2006: 12) These characteristics – where the spectator/audience is compelled to take up a position towards the action – can be found in most cultural activist practices. However, Jacques Ranciere recently challenged much of the contemporary Debordian discourse that treat the spectator as an ignorant or passive figure as well as prevailing understandings which equate participation and ‘action’ with learning, democracy and emancipation. In contrast, Ranciere claims that ‘Being a spectator is not some passive condition that we should transform into activity. It is our normal situation’ (2012: 17). Indeed, Bishop notes, as an artistic medium ‘participation is arguably no more intrinsically political or oppositional than any other’ (2006: 12). The implication here is that even as spectators, we are capable of interpretation and appropriation in ways that transcend passive/active dialectic. For cultural activism, the challenge is to envisage ‘ethical spectacles’ in a way that does not rely solely on active participation as a frame for questioning hegemonic discourse and opening up alternative imaginaries.

Collaborating activities The research team conducted two related and mutually supporting levels of collaborative activities focusing on: research and scholarship; and community-based activism. Scholarship: The scoping study and draft papers were presented at various stages including: Urban knitting and the city: new uses for comfy jumpers, Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments (UWE) seminar (14.02.12); Cultural activism and the politics of place-making, Planning Research Conference

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(Birmingham) 13.04.12) Beyond the rebel clowns: cultural activism and place-making, Digital Cultures Research Centre (UWE) seminar (02.05.12) Cultural activism and the politics of place-making, Interpretive Policy Analysis Conference, Tilburg, Netherlands (06.07.12) Spectacular activism, project workshop, Bristol (04.09.12)

The project workshop was held in Bristol on 4 September 2012 and brought together ~60 participants across the disciplines of urban studies, activism, art, , psychosocial studies, women’s studies, , performance studies, and cultural geography. The aim was to strengthen interdisciplinary exchange and generate enthusiasm for a new research agenda around the notion of cultural activism in communities. Themes which emerged included: inadequate communication between literatures related to cultural activism, community, and cultural resistance a number of unresolved tensions: solidarity/exclusion; insiders/outsiders; resistance/co- optation; formality/informality; temporality/permanence Conflicts between role of the university and the researcher, activists, communities and activist-scholars in understanding or participating in activist processes. A specific debate related to time including notions of ‘when to act’ as well as comprehensive and durable framings of art/activism (as opposed to the traditional ‘double-take’ or shock effect).

Further information (and presentations) can be found on the website: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/et/research/sustainablepe/projects/culturalactivism.aspx

Community-based activism: included outreach and discussions with artists and activists in Stokes Croft, Bristol (People’s Supermarket, Coexist and the Community Kitchen at Hamilton House, the Bearpit Improvement Group, the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, and the Matthew Tree Project). In addition, we brought symposium participants to Stokes Croft for a tour and discussion with local groups engaged with cultural activism where we explored sites of transformation and spoke about the role of art and creativity in social and urban change. A follow-up initiative is currently underway in collaboration with the Bearpit Improvement Group (a community interest company run by a group of volunteers seeking to transform the St James Barton Roundabout (known colloquially at the Bearpit) at the edge of Stokes Croft into a welcoming, safe, diverse and inclusive space). Working with local artists we are developing a series of temporary arts interventions to challenge assumptions about the bearpit as a derelict, dangerous site while supporting creative ways of re-imagining . We seek to use these interventions to present a positive vision of the future that does not rely on consumption, but rather, celebrates the sharing and human exchange aspects of being in urban public spaces. These dialogues formed an important part of the project thinking and provided useful insights including: the diversity of (often contradictory) activist identities; the supportive, nurturing relationships between creative practice and place; the role of collaboration and cooperation within

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and beyond activist networks (and an associated distaste for conflict); and a sense of impermanence often due to activist-burnout, financial challenges and a range of life-course events.

Recommendations for future research Key lessons and recommendations for future investigation: Emotions, affect and ‘sensuous solidarities’: In Stokes Croft we found that passion, the embodied nature of activist practices, and strong affective experiences contributed to the strengthening of social bonds, solidarity and shared understandings about place. However, these collective identities also contributed to exclusion in certain sites. Investigations into emotional and affective experiences could help draw out notions of place, community and identity within activist/performative environments. This might also include understandings of activist burnout, the role of professionals and volunteers and issues of trust related to divergent positioning as well as the potential exclusionary characteristics of cultural activist practices. DIY Community activism: Within the context of fiscal crisis, austerity and social unrest, DIY activism is sometimes seen (paradoxically) as part and parcel of ‘good’ neoliberal capitalism. In such a condition, resistance and the search for ‘alternative imaginaries’ often gives way to collaboration, compromise and other means of ‘getting the job done’. This reflects a notable fluidity between concepts such as resistance/co-optation; insider/outsider; solidarity/exclusion and so on which provide ample space for further enquiry. Communities of temporality: the radical and transformative potential of cultural activism is often situated in ‘moments’ of disruption. Might such moments, freezones and temporary autonomous zones actively support a re-invigorated radical democratic practice? What do they offer for the re- politicalisation of urban life? How do activists (and academics) transform disruptive moments into longer term commitments and sustainable change? Participation and spectatorship: cultural activists use creative practice and performativity to challenge dominant or hegemonic constructions of the world and to advance social and environmental goals. These practices are steeped in assumptions and expectations about audience behaviour and an equation of passivity with ignorance and active participation with learning and emancipation. Ranciere and others argue for a more nuanced engagement with spectatorship and an exploration of other ways of learning and knowing. There is a great opportunity to draw these debates into communication with disciplines concerned with democracy and participation such as urban studies and politics. Working across disciplines: The value and difficulty of this type of work was made clear at our seminar. In addition to language and vocabulary challenges, we noted a divergence of assumptions related outputs as well as more conceptual understandings of values and epistemological framings. However, we imagine this as a line of flight – a process of becoming which requires an element of risk-taking and displacement from disciplinary norms.

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SANDLIN, J.A. and MILAM, J.L., 2008. ?Mixing Pop (Culture) and Politics?: Cultural Resistance, Culture Jamming, and Anti-Consumption Activism as Critical Public Pedagogy. Curriculum Inquiry, 38(3), pp. 323-350. SCHOLL, C., 2010. Bakunin's poor cousins: Engaging art for tactical interventions. In: B.Ö. FIRAT and A. KURYEL, eds, Thamyris/Intersecting Place, Sex and Race No 21. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi B.V., pp. 157-178. SHENG, K.C. and KIRBY, M.S., 2009. Media Literacy Art Education: Logos, culture jamming and Activism. Art Education, 62(1), pp. 34-39. SOREN C., L., 2008. Place making, grassroots organizing, and rural protest: A case study of Anahim Lake, British Columbia. Journal of Rural Studies, 24(2), pp. 172-181. SPRINGGAY, S., 2010. Knitting as an Aesthetic of Civic Engagement: Re-conceptualizing Feminist Pedagogy through Touch. Feminist Teacher, 20(2), pp. 111-123. ST JOHN, G., 2008. Protestival: Global Days of Action and Carnivalized Politics in the Present Social Movement Studies, 7(2), pp. 167-190. STAHLER-SHOLK, R., 2010. The Zapatista Social Movement: Innovation and Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 35(3), pp. 269-290. SWARTZ, J., 2010. Space-Run Artists: Cultural Activism in Contemporary Barcelona. Leonardo, 43(1), pp. 6-7. TALEN, B., What Should I Do If Reverend Billy Is in My Store? New York: The New Press. UITERMARK, J., 2004. Looking Forward by Looking Back: May Day Protests in London and the Strategic Significance of the Urban Antipode, 36(4), pp. 706-727. VERSON, J., 2007. Why we need cultural activism. In: TRAPESE COLLECTIVE, ed, . A handbook for changing the world. London: pp. 171-186. WALTERS, S., 2011. Everyday life, everyday death: Race, gender, and third-wave cultural activism on Six Feet Under's online fansite. Feminist Media Studies, 11(3), pp. 363-378. XIAOPING, L., 2007. Voices Rising: Asian Canadian Cultural Activism. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

External Links

Project web sites:

UWE site: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/et/research/sustainablepe/projects/culturalactivism.aspx

Michael’s wordpress site: http://culturalactivism.wordpress.com/

The Bearpit Improvement Group http://www.the-bear-pit.org.uk/

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The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft http://www.prsc.org.uk/

A few cultural activist groups and relevant information on the web: Adbusters https://www.adbusters.org/ Center for Artistic Activism (Stephen Duncombe co-founder) http://artisticactivism.org/ Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) http://www.clownarmy.org/index.html Platform (arts, activism, education, research) http://platformlondon.org/

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping http://www.revbilly.com/

The Yes Men http://theyesmen.org/

Zapatista Army of National Liberation http://www.ezln.org.mx/ (in Spanish)

Definitions

Carnivalesque: a phrase attributed to Mikhail Bakhtin (Rabelais and His World, 1965) and his analysis of medieval carnival and folk humour which called upon ‘obscenity, hyperbole, abuse, mockery and profanity...to undermine the hierarchy of the Church, Crown, and State...’ (Weaver 2010: 36). In the contemporary, cultural activist context, the carnivalesque is generally associated with non-violent performative protests which use humour, irony, parody and mockery to challenge dominant corporate and state activities. Culture Jamming: Coined by the band Negitiveland in reference to the illegal interruption of the signals of ham (Sandlin and Milam, 2008), the term culture jamming typically refers to a resistance to consumer culture and efforts to subvert or transform the media landscape. It is an activity that seeks to counter the ‘continuous, recombinant barrage of capitalist messages fed through the ’ (Handelman, 1999: 399), recreating commercial culture in order to transform society. This recreation is accomplished as activists alter or inscribe ‘new meanings on previously existing cultural objects for the purpose of critique’ (Irzik, 2010: 145). As such, it is an act of resisting and re-creating commercial culture in order to transform society. Notable culture jammers include Adbusters, , and the Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. Culture jamming includes activities such as billboard liberation, the creation and dissemination of

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anti- ‘subvertisements’ and participation in DIY political theatre and shopping interventions (Sandlin and Milam, 2008: 225). Détournement: literally, a ‘turning around’ but can also mean diversion, rerouting, corruption, and hijacking. Described by Debord and the SI as ‘involving the transformation of both everyday ephemera, such as advertisement slogans and comic strips, and significant cultural products, such as quotations from Marx and old master paintings...Clashing head-on with all social and legal conventions, it cannot fail to be a powerful cultural weapon in the service of a real class struggle’ (Ford 2005: 36). See also Situationist International “Definitions” (1958). Situationist International: Avant-garde cultural-political and radical art movement (formed in 1957, disbanded in 1972) led by Guy Debord. The movement opposed the ‘spectacle character of capitalist societies by creating playful situations that intervened in the daily reproduction of capitalist culture’ (Scholl 2010: 177) Society of the Spectacle: a concept used by Debord and the SI to describe the way ‘relations between images were progressively replacing intersubjective relationships between individuals and collective bodies (and vice versa) as cultural and social experience circulated in a regime of commodities. Thus, the spectacle acted to mediate social relations between individuals, isolating them from everyday life much in the same way that capitalist economy isolates the producer form the commodity and its dissemination’ (Kanngieser 2010: 121). In the spectacle, ‘media and consumer society replace lived experience, the passive gaze of images supplants active social participation, and new forms of alienation induce social atomization at a more abstract level than in previous societies’ (Gotham and Krier 2008: 155) Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ): Concept attributed to Hakim Bey in which he called upon historical descriptions of ‘pirate utopias’ in order to outline a resistance strategy based in permanent temporality – unnamed, unrepresented and vanishing intentional communities. ‘The TAZ is like an uprising which does not engage directly with the State, a guerrilla operation which liberates an area…and then dissolves itself to reform elsewhere / elsewhen, before the state can crush it’ (Bey 1985:117).

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The Connected Communities

Connected Communities is a cross-Council Programme being led by the AHRC in partnership with the EPSRC, ESRC, MRC and NERC and a range of external partners. The current vision for the Programme is:

“to mobilise the potential for increasingly inter-connected, culturally diverse, communities to enhance participation, prosperity, sustainability, health & well-being by better connecting research, stakeholders and communities.”

Further details about the Programme can be found on the AHRC’s Connected Communities web pages at: www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/connectedcommunities.aspx

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