In 1967, Founder of the Situationist International, Guy Debord, said the following: ‘’What changes our way of seeing the streets is more important than what changes our way of seeing painting’’. In his book ‘The Society of the Spectacle’ Debord raised important questions about the ownership over the design of City and how its restrictions render the public as passive observers merely passing through, which he referred to as ‘The Spectacle’. Debord stressed the importance of breaking this state of passive consumer, that we inherit when using the city, by creatively involving the public in active participation. Debord believed this could be effectively achieved by challenging these rules of public space to shake the passerby from passivity.
“The very principle of the spectacle — nonintervention — is linked to the alienation of the old world. Conversely, the most pertinent revolutionary experiments in culture have sought to break the spectator’s psychological identification with the hero so as to draw him into activity by provoking his capacities to revolutionize his own life.” (Debord:1967)
I believe Debords idea of the passive spectator is even more so relevant in todays experience of the City. The city is specifically designed to prevent people from integrating with it. Creative participation in the design of the city is forbidden and playfulness is discouraged. There are certain unspoken rules of the city that are evident when looking at the way the citys are designed. We are constantly being communicated to, or more so communicated at, by corporate advertisements, and billboards, logos, and signage. Within this environment a one-way conversation is formed. We are expected to receive these messages and keep quiet, and sadly the only active form of interaction with the city usually involves consumption. What is there fun to do in the city without money? That’s just it. As users of the city our purpose is to consume. But what if self-expression was permitted and the public could talk back. What if creative play within the City was permitted?
EVOKE! is a series of Interactive Urban Interventions, or Street Art Installations, that aim to practice these very ideas. Over the space of a couple months, Street Artist Contra has introduced, in various parts of Central London, ten interactive installations that evoke a response from city users. Each Urban Interventions aimed to provide an opportunity for individuals to become creatively engaged within the urban environment, evoke questions about the ownership of so called “public space” and prove what might be possible if people were allowed and encouraged to participate in the city they share.
Each installation was documented through a series of hidden cameras, covertly recording and photographing the responses that they evoked. The pieces were all designed evoke a sense of fun and lightheartedness that would inspire a double take and desirably engage passers by in an active experience, allowing them to communicate, creatively express, or physically interact with the piece.
