Canvassing the City:Kathmandu's Translocal Cybermediated

Artivist Movements

Inter-Asian Connections IV Workshop -- Contemporary Art and the Inter-Asian

Imaginary

Rachel AmtzisFASS, NUS

October 2013

BANDH SPACE VEHICLE SPACE

PROTEST SPACE ART SPACE

Street ClaimingPoliticization of the street by political parties

and the state

Bandhs: Protests involving demonstrations of power in the form of stoppages, often using physical force, of public and private transportation and government, business, and third sector activities.

POLITICAL PARTIES (mostly)

BANDHS

Street Claiming (I)

POLITICAL PARTIES/ CIVIL SOCIETY

STREET PROTESTS

Street Claiming (II)

GOVERNMENT (led by PM Bhattarai)

ROAD WIDENING

Street Claiming (III)

POLITICAL PARTIES (mostly)

POLITICAL GRAFFITI

Street Claiming (IV)

CIVIL SOCIETY

STREET ART

Street Claiming (V)Depoliticization of the street by artists

Street Art and Disaffection with Political Party Culture

“We saw there was a problem on the streets because of the political slogans and commercial posters. The walls could be more beautiful, more positive energy could be reflected towards the society through the walls, you know, if everywhere on the walls there was art instead of political slogans.” – Romel, founder of street art collective Artlab

“I used to see political graffiti on the street – that inspired me. Politicians are taking those public spaces to communicate their thoughts, their ideas to the public, through graffiti. So why don’t we artists take that space and talk about social and political issues?” – Kailash, founder of street art collective Artudio

“It was visual pollution” – SadhuX, member of Artlab

“People feel like its public land, so anyone can do anything with it, you know?” – Yuki, member of Sattya in charge of Kolor Kathmandu street art project

(personal interviews, April 2013)

“Mummy told me not to do politics”

“Mummy told me not to do politics” (II)

Against negativity on the walls

For a unified, not fragmented Nepal

Positive images to inspire

“We make the nation”

“Bandh ruined my life!”

“Our house, our rights”

Bulldozers as pigs

An artist converting the city to butterfly

Pushing Streets Past Their Limits“The road expansion is for the people who are driving the fancy cars…. [The PM] has diverted state funds into this road building drive, and how…is it going to change the literacy rate, the health?” – Sangeeta, founder and director of Siddhartha Art Gallery & Kathmandu Contemporary Arts Centre

Pushing Streets Past Their Limits (II)

Pushing Streets Past Their Limits (III)

“With no public hearing, and no prior information regarding the plan, the municipality sprays the walls with the dreaded red color, followed by a series of disturbing announcements from a loud speaker. And then, suddenly, there are bulldozers widening the roads!” (Republica, Jan 16, 2013).

Pushing Streets Past Their Limits (IV)

“I have cancer and go for regular chemotherapy. But every time there was a banda, the ambulance journey from my home to the hospital used to give me nightmares. The banda enforcers would stop the ambulance and ask, “Where is the sick one?” Due to my fractured back, I am not able to lie down while travelling so I would be seated. They wouldn’t believe me and demand the driver to turn back the vehicle. It used to get so frustrating that I started asking another person to lie on the stretcher so that we would be allowed to pass. … I have a proposal: in the upcoming elections, no one should vote for parties or candidates who organise bandas. They don’t deserve to win a single seat.” (Strikers Out, Jagadish Ghimire, Kantipur, 16 March 2013)

Bandhs strip the public’s right to move and work

Bandhs, Deception, & Violence

Bandhs, Deception, & Violence (II)

Bandhs, Deception, & Violence (III)

Bandhs, Deception, & Violence (IV)

Bandhs cost the country US$40 million per bandh day and “Ruling political parties aren't even trying to thwart the current banda: perhaps they fancy using this priceless tool when they themselves are in opposition,” (Shakya, The Nepali Times, May 2010).

Bandhs, Deception, & Violence (V)

Expressions of dissent against bandhs

“Bandh is the height of criminalisation in politics,” - rights activist Jyoti Baniya (as quoted in “Bandhs deny people fundamental rights,” The Himalayan Times, April 7, 2013

Change?“Has the government ever listened to what the people want? I don’t think so. I just think that the artists have played their role, done their job and done it well. Now it’s up to the state to listen. They’re not going to listen. You see, they will only listen when it matches their interests. If what the street is saying is not what they’re thinking, nothing is going to happen.” - Sangeeta Thapa, director of Siddhartha Gallery (interviewed April 2013)

Change? (II)

Change? (III)

Change? (IV)“[W]hen the number of ‘likes’ go from zero to say, 6,000, 7,000 very quickly, then you know that people are buying into that idea. And so then the media takes notice of that, and helps spread that message as well. It’s the perception that something is happening…[W]hen Nepalese are stuck they look for some platform, and usually there [isn’t one], so they end up in a negative platform. But if we could offer people a positive platform, and if they have that choice…most people will chose the positive platform. A good example would be the rally against Nepal bandh. All it does is on Facebook, ‘we’re gonna meet at nine o clock in Thamel, and we’re gonna defy the bandh’. You’re giving people a positive message, but you’re also giving them a chance to respond positively.” – Anil Chitrakar, Nepal Unites, YouTube (2010)