Breakaction
Break-dancers from Mad Spirit claimed a place to dance in Brussels metro-stations on 7 May 1999.
The regulation of public space has made life increasingly difficult for urban performers. Buskers and break-dancers who meet their audience in the people who walk by and stop, are often removed from the places where they traditionally perform their act: shopping centres, transport stations, covered outside areas of public buildings. Because these are the places where urban culture thrives, they deserve more attention.
On a Friday afternoon in 1999, Mad Spirit visited the stations of the line B Metro-line armed with a dancing carpet, a sound system and a horde of press people. The action consisted of a dance act that would last until the artists were asked to leave –which was never longer than 15 minutes- at which point they would move to the next station.
The action gained the hoped for attention from passers-by and media, and hip hop dancing in public spaces was raised as an issue.
Ongoing projects:
L-Atlas
Precare
Generalized Empowerment
Krax
Micronomics
Cartografie
Bouillot
Publications:
Bunker Souple Repertorium 1998 & 2000: available at Citymine(d) offices.
Generalized Empowerment. Uneven Development and Urban Interventions, 2006. Download here.
MapRAC. Plannen voor het RijksAdministratief Centrum. La Cité Administrative de l'Etat en cartes & en question, 2004: available at Citymine(d) offices.
Micronomics scanning: DVD online soon.
Networkbook for Urban P/Arts. 42 initiatives capturing London's Public Space, 2004: available at Citymin(e)d offices.
Towards. Cartes Subjectives d'interventions Urbaines à Bruxelles // Subjectieve Kaarten van Stedelijke Internventies in Brussel: available at Citymine(d) offices.