Gender issues discussed through contemporary art in public spaces, Nepal.
The transnational art project Different Voices is a platform for production and dissemination of gender-debating artworks in public spaces. Various people with an interest in gender issues have been participating in workshops, discussions and public art projects, where collaboration has been an essential working method.
Different Voices is driven by a will to listen and learn from each other cooperating beyond professions, gender, borders of nations and boundaries of class/caste and race.
Different Voices is co-initiated by Lasanaa - An alternative art space (Np) and Women down the Pub, WdtP (Dk/Sw). Lasanaa, is an alternative art space and an art trust that seeks to bring about positive change in society. Women down the Pub is an artist collective from Denmark, who works with questions of feminism and intersectionality. Ashmina Ranjit who initiated Lasanaa and the feminist artist collective ‘Women down the Pub’ met in Copenhagen for the first time in 2006. We started a discussion on gender related issues. During the discussion, we found out that the hierarchy system at the Fine Art Academies - and art scenes in Kathmandu were not too different from the Copenhagen art scene. We realized that we could benefit from each other and begun planning to work together exchanging ideas, building strategies for the Different Voices project and for future projects. We decided to start a platform for dissemination of gender-debating artworks in public space - discussing and inviting artists to involve in making political art for public spaces about gender structures and transnational feminism.
The different voices Billboard-project has been running for a year from beginning of 2008 – to the beginning of 2009 with various artists debating gender structures though visual-art in the billboard space - Putali Sadak, (Near Singar Durbar/Near Parlament.) - Katmandu city. It is a trans-disciplinary project in which artists and people in different professions are cooperating to intervene in the public spaces i.e. getting art projects out in the streets literally by using: billboards, posters and other public spaces as a communicative platform for art.
Today’s urban spaces are being used more and more for commercial purposes. In order to reclaim urban spaces, the ‘alternative billboard’ space does not sell you anything. Instead it invites you to reflect on matters of public importance showing counter strategies to the dominant order.
Different Voices project is founded and settled in the belief that art should intervene and reach beyond the world of art and mere representation. Lasanaa and WdtP are experimenting on how art can be a method when addressing complex issues. One often gets stoked in binary positions when discussing politics, that can be questioned within the multi-faceted languages of art. We believe that art by being witty, radically critical, un-didactic, analyzing and self-critical has a capacity to challenge deeply rooted perceptions and biases and to raise questions on complicated matters.
A part of the concept behind the Different Voices project has been to create a long-term cooperation between artists from Denmark/Sweden and Nepal. The project has been developed over a period of two years. While 2 people from WdtP returned to Denmark after the first workshop in Nepal in 2007, one stayed another 2 months in Nepal doing cooperation’s with Lasanaa. All together and separately we continued working and discussing the project both in Kathmandu and in Scandinavia. Lasanaa developed discussions, collaborations and displays for the Billboard as an alternative art space and together we developed new ideas for the 2008 workshops in Kathmandu – gender mapping the city space of Kathmandu, talks and intersectional discussion programs with Lasanaa.
The project was initiated in order to discuss issues of solidarity, transnational feminism and to collaboratively work on counter strategies to the dominant order and to debate gender structures in society though art.
Warm wishes Lasanaa and WdtP