Interventions in public space, internet blog, context-specific ambience
Artist in residence P.A.C.T. Zollverein, Essen, Germany
Sidetracking is based on minimal temporary interventions in public space, in crowded pedestrian zones. The interventions are incorporated into the common visual vocabulary of the street so that the line between the interventions and some already existing ‘’props’’ is not clear.
Red-and-white attention tapes redirecting the passers-by from their planned ‘tracks’ (sometimes individual people, sometimes bigger groups of pedestrians).
The idea playfully approaches the subject of “moving forward” and the search of new (urban) identities and new directions in visualizing the future of the post-industrial region of the Ruhr.
The second part of the project was a site-specific ambience-installation at P.A.C.T. Zollverein: Studio is out of use, refers to the found condition of a former coal mine industrial complex where the residence takes place, offering an artistic studio. The author brings outdoor elements into the indoor space, merging their conditions into one whole; a notion of time standing still, or the place standing still whilst the time passes-by, depicts the realistic state of the complex, which is nevertheless trying to find a new identification through art and culture.
Furthermore, a personal identification is comprised in this act, the ambience-installation is a kind of a manifesto, where the young artist declares the turnout point in her artistic procedures and approaches, announcing that she is moving her working space and artistic activities out of the studio to the streets and the public space of the city.
tonka malekovic 