I have recently returned to Amsterdam from Soweto, a township/ ghetto on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. I am planning a project there which I would like to take place this year.
It is the biggest and most challenging project I have ever undertaken and it requires an enormous amount of production organization, planning and co-operation on a local level in Soweto.
The precise location where the public space intervention will take place is called Walter Sisulu square in Kliptown, an area which compared to the development which has occurred in most other areas in Soweto, has been largely neglected. In 2001, the government took large steps to try and fix this and invested 37 million euro, into a large monument to commemorate the area. The monument included a conference centre, a 5 star hotel, a museum, and various other large, monumentally symbolic structures. The reason for this being that despite the poverty in the area today, it was once a cosmopolitan, energetic and prosperous area, being very politically significant during the 1950′s when a special manifest, called the “Freedom Charter” was held there, which effectively sparked the first beginnings of the new democratic constitution which was formed after the abolishment of Apartheid. However, the attempt on the part of the government to contribute to the upliftment of the area, has literally divided the community even further, and alienated the residents of Kliptown from the legacy which they were and are a crucial part of.
The development has done one thing, converted the township area, which is usually seen as dangerous and inaccessible to tourists and white South Africans, into a fairly attractive tourist-safe zone. Which is good for the pockets of the square investors but not so good for the image of the area according to the local residents. They see the area is being earmarked for white people, with no direct connection to their input or contribution.

The project which I am planning aims to bridge the large gap that has been created between the frustrated citizens who live in the area and the exclusive monument complex. My project entails building a new monument- a shabby one made from found materials, in the now clean and severe concrete space- and literally re-claiming the space, for the intentions of the people. The space will be self- curated by local organizations according to what they think should take place there. The problem is that in order to curate such an event- it is necessary to appease both the marketing manager of the area and satisfy the locals. Effectively the marketing manager needs to be convinced that the new monument and surrounding events will be able to benefit the area commercially, by providing publicity and highlighting the significant historically related agenda which they have already set out. Simultaneously the local people need to feel that it is actually their monument, and they need to feel welcome in the space (which they usually refuse to visit) in order for their self-curated events to be a success. Not to mention the suspicions of who actually is benefitting from the events, especially seeing as though a perceived outsider such as myself, a white South African, is initiating the proposal. These various elements of negotiation and mediation are in themselves rather tricky, even before it gets to the issue of money, and how the project will be financed. The problematic point here is that from a European arts/culture perspective, the project is most certainly interesting to fund, but for entirely different reasons to the people on the ground. In order to secure finances- it seems that there needs to be an element which is accessible to a Dutch/ European audience, and therefore the necessity of a website or other promotional activities inside Europe, which of course loses a strong connection to the people of Kliptown.

I question if in the context of this project, mediation and negotiation are not perhaps my most important contributions to the project. Although, I constantly doubt whether I am allowing for too much input, through involving all sides- and perhaps I should adopt a more dictator-like attitude. Given the politically sensitive nature of the place and people, and the way that it related also to my own identity, being a citizen of the same democracy, I consider it a personal duty to persist with these negotiations. I suppose that if the art of walking the tightrope between boardroom and ubuntu can be mastered- this would be a good tool to apply to future art projects, in whichever situation or location they may relate.

Lauren Alexander
January 2010