In late May, nearly a hundred residents of the southern part of the city became, briefly, city mayors. In an exercise of imagination and responsibility, ideas and decisions came out of a mobile mayor’s office which moved in three districts in the area. We gathered the participants’ opinions and proposals and soon we will make them public. After completing the action, the pavilion was carried to Belciugatele village, Calarasi County, where Arhipera Association and a team of volunteers have reassembled it, as street furniture, in the park in the village centre.
Architecture.
City.
Society.
≡
Bucharest South
Bucharest South – description
The name of the project covers a range of researches, events, exhibitions and interventions that started in 2015, about places, people and activities in the south of Bucharest, covering on the one side the difficulties and needs and on the other side the social, economic and cultural potential, and the actors who profit from this potential.
An action within the project „Actopolis. The Art of Action / Bucharest-Sud. Build your own city!”
We asked the inhabitants of the southern part of Bucharest would would they do if they were mayors. Moreover, we invited in the mayor’s office all those people who at least once asked themselves “What can I do for my city?” The mobile office was specially designed to inspire people to make decisions that can transform the city into a city belonging to the people.
Foto: © Ștefan Tuchilă
Motto: “Don’t tell anyone, but I always wanted to be mayor!” (“Show me a hero,” 2015)
What would happen if the local residents of one of the less fortunate side of Bucharest would take their fate into their own hands? If they tapped the potential and advantages of the place, if they multiplied the good things that are already happening there? With these questions in mind, we launched an art project dedicated to the southern half of Bucharest and its inhabitants.
Let’s not beat around the bush: those of us who do not live in the southern part of Bucharest rarely go there, unless we have some specific reason. Exceptions are usually parks and malls.
Traditionally the poorest side of Bucharest, the South received a new blow with the demolitions and especially Ceaușescu’s sinister avenue, which literally cut the town in half and isolated the south even deeper.
The city is moving. Even on the other side of Unirii Boulevard: a new green area in Văcăreşti, galleries, art and design centres appear in old factories, cool bars and restaurants and vanguard entrepreneurship. The isolated and forgotten South breeds today one of the busiest areas.
We explored the southern side of the capital, with two specific themes in mind: new cultural, social and business initiatives and transforming industrial spaces. As a result, in Carol Factory there were three events on October 21st:
Architecture.
City.
Society.