A visual issue by Lena Kilina and Alice Casiraghi

Like Parque Minhocão in São Paulo and the Red Town space in Shanghai, other cities in the world with similar socio-political and economic contexts, have been going through processes of speculation and trivialization of places, flattened by a logic of capital / commodity and policies not related to a notion of public sphere, generating an erasure of cultural elements and symbols present in urbanism. Based on the concept of “place-making”, Lena’s research reflects on this resistance in maintaining the authenticity of places. In this clash, different notions of belonging and engagement become present both positively and in their most controversial and ambiguous forms. The evasive reality of the city, which has undergone rapid changes in recent times. On the one hand, it is a metropolis, but on the other hand, an eclectic hole. Authentic magic of space is lost day after day, as the city is “cleared” of an unnecessary past.

Through the notion of play we intend to examine fictional and mythical backgrounds of ‘a place’, to build a visual anthropological spatial map focusing on the space and its transformations. How to open the doors of public space to those who come to play (interact, engage, re-create) and to craft a collaborative experience where there are no insiders and no outsiders, just the citizens of culture and the members of the collective story? 

It will be important to recognize the urban space as a tool for achieving social justice. Public spaces should be places that provide opportunities for the personal, social, cultural, political and economic development of all citizens.

I developed a series of illustrations about the details of shared spaces, to match Lena’s poetry and photographic reportage in São Paulo and Shanghai.

More images here https://www.instagram.com/alicecasiraghi/
Find more about Lena’s work here https://www.instagram.com/kilbilina

December 2020