Loslaten als discipline

An interview by Pieter van Bogaert (Square) in conversation with Peter Westenberg and Wendy van Wynsberghe in the framework of the project ‘en suite’.

This text talks about several aspects of the projects that evolve around the organisation Constant in which the interviewee recognises a practice of ‘letting go’. We talked about methodologies of giving access to content, setting up participatory strategies, video, hacking, extra-curricular forms of eduction. (Dutch only)

DIY style reparations, language corrections and oddities, representations of persons and bodies, temporary structures and temporary solutions.

Urban Anomalies is a photo-blog in which urban scene’s and sights in Brussels are collected. The blog has an emphasis on small, daily phenomena that can quickly be overlooked but are emblematic as symptoms of the social political functioning of the city.

Here’s an example of inventive use of orange vinyl tape to repare a gigantic hook that was used in the construction of the Financial Tower on Botanique: (click to see small film)

April 2011, Recyclart, Brussels

This was a walk in which participants experiment with low-key shields against being watched by surveillance camera’s. Starting at Recyclart in Brussels, we visited some nearby relevant locations; where camera signals could be captured, where we could play in view of installed camera’s.

We passed by the ‘Parking Panorama‘ (Rue Van Helmont): a circular building now used as an indoor parking, that once housed the panorama canvas painted by Louis Dumoulin in 1912 for the celebration of the first centenary of the battle of Waterloo, where we looked at documentation of the Street with a View project by Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley.

We created our own ‘satellite view’ using camera’s suspended from helium balloons.

A paper guide to the walk was produced. Download a PDF here.

Prior to the walk, we printed out some images of doorsteps that were captured from surveillance camera’s. The prints were mounted on sticks. When hold up to the same camera from which the images originated, they camouflage the space below the image. See a demonstration in this video.

A television news item was broadcasted by the popular program ‘Flanders today / Vlaanderen Vandaag’ on the channel VT4 in which some of the aims and methods of the walk are explained. (See video here, Dutch only)

Radio 1 broadcasted a report of the walks in the program De Ochtenden. (Download soundfile here)

STARE is a video that consists entirely of visuals captured from wireless surveillance camera’s in Brussels. Made in 2010, in collaboration with the Human Rights League (LDH), the initial idea was to produce a visual document that would embed the debate about privacy sensitive images in existing situations. Often legal discourse is fed with imaginations of how technology works in the public realm. In reality available equipment and urban surroundings put constraints on how laws can be put into practice.

The speaker in voice over is lawyer Franck Dumortier (CRID Namur), who is specialised in intellectual property and privacy issues. During a talk that he made on the occasion of the 2010 thematic week ‘Technologie mon amour’ that was organised by the LDH, he explained the legal framework that surrounds camera surveillance as it is written in the Belgian ‘surveillance camera law’. The actual images of the video were the core material on which his story is based. Later we edited this video that combines his lecture with the footage.

In the framework of the prject, we organised walks in which technical and legal aspects involved in showing and capturing privacy sensitive visual material in public space were discussed. This small news item explains well some of the aims and methods used. (French only)

STARE (burned in English subtitles) can be downloaded here:
http://video.constantvzw.org/Surveillance/STARE-en-subs.ogv

Or you can download a French spoken version with separate subtitle file here:
ENG .srt file +
NLD .srt file +
.ogv video file

Mobile installation, each module 240 x 120 x 200, 2011

The work consists of a modular construction serving as a mobile hangout place for youngsters in Overpelt. The wooden structures are set on wheels and can be moved around the city. They can be put together in such a way that they create a stage, a cabin, a shelter. The outsides are covered with mirrors, the inside is sprayed with graffiti.
A group of 15 teenagers actively participated in shaping the work. The resulting structures serve as a tool with which they can demonstrate their need for a more permanent place in the city that allows them to gather and meet.

A collaboration with industrial designer Mathieu Gabiot for Future Formers, a project of Eeland in Genk.

Artist Impression by Mathieu

Teenagers worked together in the construction and painting of the modules.
See more images of the creation process and how the structure is used.

Why wait with having fun until everything is ready?

http://video.constantvzw.org/R+R_overpelt/Stunten-met-hout.ogv

Some examples of the variety of forms the construction can take when put together in different ways:

Open Source Video is a loosely connected group videomakers around the association Constant, who are interested in making video with the use of open source tools for video. I regularly contribute to the Osvideo blog. The blog collects tips, links, films and videos published under open content licenses and other things.

If you want to know more about the regular group meetings in Brussels, the workshops, the shared studio space, the screenings and demonstrations that we organise then check out the blog, the osvideo wiki, or register to the Osvideo mailinglist.

Neighbourhood project and audio data-base, Schaarbeek, BE, 2009 – 2012

Go to project website of la Langue Schaerbeekoise

The project ‘Language of Schaerbeek’ collects words that are used by different groups of people living around the ‘Cage of the bears’ as Place Verboeckhoven is commonly known. Arab, Turkish, Dutch, Brussels, Swahili, Spanish, Polish are just a few of the languages that accompany the main language French. The dictionary is an open for change, flexible and organically growing collection of recordings of spoken words.

The project is organised by Constant in the framework of the neighborhood contract Navez-Portaels. Supported by the Brussels region and the commune of Schaerbeek.

On board of this boat ride some prominent Tilburg party people who talked about new party routines, such as the ‘new years dive’, and how feasts and traditions change over time. With: Paul Spapens (author), Miranda Poel (artist), Sjef Huggers (Motorclub ‘t Motorrijerke), Ton Vialle (stichting Kermis-cultuur), Corné Snels (Hardy hairdresser)

This event was organised in the framework of the project Huis Boom Feest by Wapke Feenstra.

A short article that summarises some ideas behind Routes and Routines. The article was written for magazine Trepeta, published by the Basque museum for contemporary art Artium in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Read / download the text from online publisher Constant Verlag.