 |
| Café, Galeota, free form construction, with natural design. |
This was an interesting week/month, all things considered, national election in September, there was the Ministry of Design-Colloquium, Save the Savannah; won their case in the courts against the Ministry of Planning; on the development which was being installed in the Orange Grove Savannah, nine Afro-American were massacred in a black gospel church...they forgave the killer. We sent out letter into the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation for the consideration concerning our proposal to install the Tacarigua Sculptural Playground Project on the Orange Grove Savannah. I met with ACTT, the Artist Coalition of Trinidad and Tobago. I visited four schools as far as Mayaro, to the North Coast, to Central, in the school drop out project.
 |
| Community Centre, Tunapuna, a formal structure, which lacked design empathy |
ART
MATTERS
As
much as life matters, in life design is considered. From the colloquium, I have
this uneasy feelings my colleagues have indifferent feelings to art and design
having the same tendencies. There is also a standoff on the word “activism”.
Here
we’re with the opportunity to create a hybrid scenario, between art and design
in the transformation process of our society. Art has the possibility of
opening the soul, design have the intention of regulating that soul, through
the understanding of process. I will agree with a Minister who in a speech
mentioned, I will paraphrase “Trinidadian and Tobagonians, having been trying
to create our own path, our rebellious nature, our slackness, is our way of
finding that path”.
If
we look at the anthropological and pyscological nature of slackness, the women
and men who commit slackness, “Warnerism” and others like him, can be
considered the noble desire for true altruism, a hyper, neo-real Robin Hood.
The fact that people can’t seem to turn their back on such people who act off
social-deviant behaviour, I have heard words come from mouths of Minister, Mr.
Cadiz, The Honourable Kamla... the mouths of neighbours concerning people who
have done harm to people, they come to their defence, either as colleagues,
friends, neighbours, groupings, ethnic groups, mothers, dads, brothers, sisters
etc.
This
masking as professor Gerard Hutchinson, in the article by Dr. Jean Antoine, in
the article, TRINIS HAVE TRUST ISSUES –
“The matter for him
is about what we consider to be, which is again linked to this issue of
masking. Because historically performance is so important in our society and
our ability to outface the other a marker of success. We out the eccentric and
the showman on pedestals. We revere the ones who can create the greatest
publicity. The personas constructed though, he notes, are not real, and when
crisis occurs, there is collapse.
Newsday,
Sunday March 29, 2015 page43, Trinis have trust Issues, Jean Antoine Dunne,
Senior Lecturer, The University of the West Indies.
 |
| Heights of Aripo, vending stall, temporary structure, built informally to support a business idea |
This
“warnerism”, “sagaboy”, “masking”, politics of self, is us, we, I, this full
blown idea of consuming the I, rather than the we is the weakness of our
cultural space. The spectacle of our performances to gather great gratitude’s
and political mileage may be in favour of the I agenda, the pedestal, in the
long run the death of the overall conversation of a socio economic identity.
 |
| Heights of Aripo, RC School, stair way, formal structure |
At
Yao Ramesar’s presentation of his films at Studio66, the conversation of economics
in culture aroused great passion in the audience... which I stated, that as
cultural practitioners, it is always sad that we have to start with making
money rather than having a conversation about the professional status of our
groups. The ability of me, as an artist to be at the best at what I do, from a
philosophical, theoretical, sociological, historical, ethical, moral (not
religious), economic position, money will come and when it comes we should have
the maturity to deal with.
Yao,
is one of the few film makers who have embraced art, speaks of it in is
development of his films.
 |
| Studio 66, Yao Ramesar, film presentation, an example of formal, informal design of space. Yao Ramesar is one of the few film makers who speaks openly about art in the frame of filming |
SYNERGY,
HYBRIDITY
Why
are designers so consumed on a separatist agenda, while designers and artists
are embracing the qualities of each group to create sustainable projects. I had
the opportunity to share this with some policy makers at a meeting, did they
understand, I’m not sure, what was understood was their project in a community
fell through, due to a flawed approach, here they had a opportunity to embrace
the idea of art-design, “Arsign” which can be implied in a community, with the
hopes that it will be sustainable. There is a will to listen. |
| Worker in full flight, this is an example of informal ways we go about doing things that have serious formality |
ACTIVISM
Is
frowned upon, why? Our space has been an activist space from the very beginning
of its modernity, The Caribbean has been in activist mode, still to this day
we’re still trying to get it right. Artists and designers must embrace the fact
that what we’re doing is an activist practice, no matter how dumb down your
work is or how high intellectual your work may be, what we’re doing is
activating space. Tribe as much as Chris Cozier are activating; one on low pop
culture, high capitalism, low aesthetics, the other is stimulated through a
high level of intellectual conceptual consideration for pop culture. They’re
both in the game, what is needed is more conversations to work out what are the
benefits of a Tribe cultural shift, or a Chris Cozier’s cultural shift or a By
Making, Ccooabel or Sun Eaters Organics, Yao Ramesar’s Films. To find that, we
need to embrace activism, in the understanding of our products, or expressions.
Truth in activism, finds truth of self. |
| Vending Stall, Maracas North Coast, an example of high informality, from materiality, collage to squatting |
“What Professor Hutchinson
is suggesting is that as a people we have had to deal with adapting ourselves
to being first of all in positions of subordination during the periods of
enslavement and indenturship subsequently we had to adjust to new power
relations after independence.
The problem is that
having lived for generations in scenarios where survival demanded that we hide
who we truly are and mistrust those in authority, we are now not able to trust
anyone.”
Newsday,
Sunday March 29, 2015 page43, Trinis have trust Issues, Jean Antoine Dunne,
Senior Lecturer, The University of the West Indies.
As
I walk through my communities I’m confronted with a art-design hybrid, which is
consumed in craft, free form, collage, construction, engineering all coming
from a proletarian of natural intellectualism, in finding our natural self, we
will have to embrace this, creating a hybridity of form, a vocabulary that can
speak clearly to the internationalization of political vision,
neo-liberalization, capitalism and globalization of imagination.
 |
| North Coast, La Fillet Village, Blanchisseuse- here is an example of a formal form, being interjected into an informal structure, acquiring qualities of formal structuralism, acquiring architecture. These are great examples of hybrid possibilities |
WE
WILL HAVE TO TRUST....
