https://www.urban-action.com/

StreetVis is the second in a series of conferences promoting the idea of urban space as open code. Since the previous conference, entitled StreetWise, the world has undergone a social, cultural, and economic upheaval. The streets have become a testament to the way in which the routine of most global residents have been exposed uncontrollably to changes and shocks worldwide. The dual significance of the street as a public space was intensified. On the one hand, the streets has become an expansion of the boundaries of daily life and an escape from the reality of closure within the private space; on the other hand, the streets have become a threat of a reality in which the boundaries of partnership have become transparent and fading, unable to protect those who share it. Demonstrated at a time when the importance of closeness and partnership between people has become controversial, the role of the street as a space of protest, action, change and demonstration of presence has intensified.
Surviving on the street as a way of life is a challenge, but according to the chaotic global situation in 2020, one is considered a survivor upon going out on the street and surviving in the public space. Does the demand for separation, interdependence with the public world, neglection of common cause and social reality have no alternatives? Can participation be replaced?
The StreetVis conference seeks to uncover and share ways of exploring possibilities to channel the power existing in the street as a positive vis of change, spurring learning from the world’s streets, and propagating new opportunities of studying the uncontrolled and vitalized indication of reality. The conference aims at lighting up the street as a space that can be occupied back by the public, and reactivated to influence the civic, cultural, social, and economic reality, as well as at expanding the range of possible forms of participation in the public agenda.
We are interested in participatory methods and break-out initiatives that would explore the use of active disruption and look for methodologies that widen the range of opportunities for civil change through cultural actions.
The conference program explores the ways artists and academics could work together across disciplines, foster collaboration as a means of sharing, and determine modes of action that challenge decision-making processes and policies, striving towards rules that will be written and violated, practices to challenge the status quo and reclaim ways of reconnecting ourselves to each other.
We would like to emphasize seeing over fence sand beyond discriminating spatial agendas and racial economy. StreetVis is an opportunity to manifest new choices, reclaim the street’s power and move beyond the limiting strength of everyday life.