AFRICAN MAXIMALISM

Tuesday 7 p.m at Goethe Institute

Current policies and politics around urban public space & And what happens if the public space turns into a pitch for mobilisation?
How public is the public space? Indeed, what are we, as members of the public, permitted to do in these spaces? This question is both highly political and highly contested. From politicians to policemen, from artists to activists, from planners to policy makers, nobody is without an agenda about what should and should not be allowed in these spaces. Indeed public space can even be defined as a space for open contestation, and thus the distillation of democracy. For this discussion we bring together a cocktail of characters (hopefully not of the molotov variety) to share some perspectives and positions about about politics and policing, the safety and security, the art and the artifice of Nairobi’s public spaces.
thursday 7 p.m at Goethe Insitute

The future of urban public space & development

Town planners and rappers might not seem like the most likely companions but the correlation between art, culture and urban ‘regeneration’ is becoming increasingly obvious in cities around the world. Nevertheless, this is not an unproblematic relationship. It is true that the inclusion  of community groups, local artists and musicians in the creation of an urban identity ultimately leads to a more imaginative and potent urban code emerging. At the same time, this relationship between  artists and city officials is not always an equal one, and there is always the risk that artists are merely being instrumentalised. ‘Even ‘regeneration’ itself has become synonymous with a kind of gentrification, creating ‘beautiful’ neighbourhoods for the middle classes.