Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Urban Emptiness
approaching silence
Through a series of actions: workshops, performative projects,
open discussions, exhibitions the project intends to
contribute to the discourse about the social, educational,
ecological, cultural value of silence in urban life.
urban emptiness
Acknowledging the significance of the contribution of diverse
groups of people in its results it will invite students and local
citizens in its actions, in a first phase in Athens, Brussels and
Edinburgh between February and June 2016.
urban emptiness
The project explores the conditions of emptiness in
contemporary city through the examination of silence in its
embodied understanding using various narrative elements.
urban emptiness
Combining methodologies from different disciplines (i.e.
architecture, arts, dance / performative arts, walking and new
media) this study traces the silence of empty, abandoned or
even hidden parts of contemporary cities; seeking to reveal
their particular qualities, examine and comment on their
role in the life of the local communities and suggest also
innovative ways of their mapping.
urban emptiness
The suggested performative exploration of the city draws our
attention on peoples actions and doings. Immersive
performative practices will reveal the potentiality of space,
by using participants as active producers of content and
meaning.
urban emptiness
Either human or atmospheric, silence is an integral part of an
immersive understanding of the world, being always
reciprocally interconnected to the other phenomena found
in it, such as (natural or artificial) sonorous events, human
discourse, everyday activities and so forth.
urban emptiness
Silence is connected to the idea of emptiness in different
cultural contexts. An empty place is not a totally void space,
as silence is not a totally soundless condition. In various
parts of the city, like areas under development or
undeveloped, abandoned buildings or industrial zones and
urban voids, emptiness opens a space for silence to be
experienced and creates intimate associations.
urban emptiness
The project aims also at the creation of a wider network
between cultural and academical institutions of different
European cities that will keep exploring silence in the city
and interacting with each other. In parallel, it will be open to
citizens involvement in the suggested investigation.
urban emptiness
Workshops and actions
Edinburgh - Brussels - Athens
Performance,
sound and augmented aurality,
documentation/exploration
The international network Urban Emptiness examines the
significance of emptiness and silence in the urban landscape through
a series of actions in three different cities: Athens, Edinburgh and
Brussels. To fulfil this aim a number of workshops and their
synthesis, happening in the same city or in different countries (in
parallel or not), has been one of the key activities of the network.
The role of the silent walking body as a carrier of both personal and
collective stories was illuminated through this process, exploring the
opening of (permanent and temporary) home-situations in the
urban environment, and negotiating our belonging in it.
Listening to the city, recording its sounds and its inhabitants stories
and choosing the areas in which these sounds were going to be
placed aimed to the formation of a sonorous environment to be
listened while walking.