Shilpa Phadke, Shilpa Ranade & Sameera Khan (India)
Collaborating with: University Scholars Programme Cyberart Studio
This was an interesting interactive piece featured at ISEA 2008 in Singapore. It explores questions of female subjectivity and public space in Mumbai.
Like Singapore, Mumbai is reputed to be one of the safest cities in the world for women, and yet through extensive research the artists have observed that this does not translate to an equal claim to public space. The act of loitering, 'hanging around' on the streets, for example, is still very much seen as an occupation exclusively for men. Women who appear to ‘purposelessly’ inhabit public space are looked upon with deep suspicion. Loitering is certainly not the act of a respectable woman. This artwork aims to question some of the underlying assumptions about public space and gender in both Singapore and Mumbai. The installation ironically gestures to the impossibility of loitering for women. It will be complemented by time-lapse video footage that explores the gendered inhabitation of public spaces in the two cities. Through the idea of loitering, the artwork asks questions about pleasure, risk, and citizenship.
Shilpa Phadke, Shilpa Ranade and Sameera Khan (India) have collaborated on a research project about women in public space, under the aegis of PUKAR, an inter-disciplinary urban research group based in Mumbai, India.
www.genderandspace.org