Open Day display for a Residency program in Switzerland, Part of Emerging Artist Award, Supported by FICA and Pro Helvetia, April to June 2019.
Site: 74/76 Mattenstrasse, Basel, Switzerland.
Variable
painted banners, posters by black pigment bind with distemper and red, blue and brown stainer on handwoven and rough cotton cloth, painted illustrations by gouache and Ink on rice-paper, permanent marker and ink drawings on printed flyers, leaflets, postcards, packing boxes cardboard sheets, tobacco packet and paper egg crate; hand written text on wall, collected propaganda materials related to immigration, racism, asylum, deportation, such as magazines, books, leaflets, stickers, flyers and badges; performative activities and discussions.
During the three month stay in Switzerland, I was engaged with different political groups, alternative publishing houses, community centres, squat houses, demonstrations mainly revolving around the question of immigration, asylum acts, deportation and racism. These themes were particularly roused in light of the recent “new asylum act’’ implemented in March 2019 in Switzerland.
I had many opportunities to get involved with political activities, which included:
I collected flyers, advertisements and media from the local art scene and noticed that topics like the recent immigration/asylum policies, deportation and racism were virtually absent. Through reading, conversations and engaging with different political groups and looking at counter propaganda practices like protest sticker culture, underground/alternative magazines and newsletters I decided to superimpose political imagery, slogans and quantitations onto the collected material onto display boards and walls. These works and reflections were incomplete and thus ongoing.
The displays were set up in Mattenstrasse in a residential community where they live within an economically independent and self-sustainable society. There they have their own medical system, food procurement and storage, local entertainment and meeting places such as bars, a concert hall, artist studios. Residents of this community are actively involved with political movements and gave me a chance of immersing myself and gaining first hand experience with how the locals engage and protest against police brutality and injustice against immigrants and asylum seekers.
This finally led to a public display being opened up which collated my works and engagements during the research and included, for example, a series of documentations of the demonstrations, sticker and magazine collections, contributions of other artist’s work such as Sussane Winterling’s “ISOTROP’’ (volumes 1 and 5) which was an underground collectives magazine publication. We also displayed anti-asylum act placards, posters, banners and stickers. I held a daily journal which consisted of sketches, paintings, slogans, documentations, media clippings and notes on my daily observations. A display space was created to exhibit my observations which allowed people who were affected by or involved with the political hardships and encouraged a conversation and dialogue, enabling a greater sense of unity and understanding.
all, @anupam_art