Gestures in Transit – via mind, body & voice
2020-2022

Imagine your are in a bus or a metro on your daily commute.
How do you take up space?
Do you tend to make yourself small or big?

Public transport between places positions bodies at the centre of a web of power relations, dominated by vehicles, algorithms, schedules, security technologies and pre-defined routes and behaviour. “Gestures in Transit” examines how power is inscribed through gestures and voice and invites participants to deconstruct power dynamics found in public transportation.

“Gestures in Transit – via mind, body & voice” invites participants to dissect the multi-layered interactions between bodies and space, between rules and systems of power, that emerge in networks of public transportation. Developed on the bases of personal interviews conducted with women* and members of marginalised groups about their experiences in buses or metro, the listening and movement exercises move between action and reflection. Through the embodied approach, participants explore how the design of public transport impacts freedom of movement and reproduces oppressive norms & ideologies. 

“Gestures in Transit” was developed in collaboration with Gabriel Fontana. The production of the work was supported by Derde Wal & Mondrian Funds.

Act II – Sonic Stereotyping, Nijmegen, September 2021.

Setting visualisation.

Training manual, 2021.

Act I – Stay silence and doing nothing, Nijmegen, September 2021.

Act III – Taking up Space vs Being Suspicious, Nijmegen, September 2021.

Reflection moment, Nijmegen, September 2021.

 

Selected activations:

  • Rietveld Academy, DesignLab 2, Amsterdam (NL), November 2021.

  • Derde Wal: Social Aspects, Nijmegen (NL), September 2021.

  • Design Master programme, Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam (NL), February 2021.