[This video in collaboration with Kontak! was commissioned as part of Participatory City: 100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab, on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum from October 11, 2013 – Jan 5, 2014. Learn more at http://www.guggenheim.org/100urbantrends. ]
project statement
Berkhayal Kuala Lumpur started as a playground for aspiring minds whose hopes and dreams are meant for the improvement of Kuala Lumpur especially when it comes to alternative use of public spaces and it’s relations on how the public react to it as a collective society and it aims to educate the masses by initiating activities, dialogues or programs that would serve as informative actions in acknowledging the public on issues or problems regarding to the public spaces.
Urban contexts chosen for Berkhayal Kuala Lumpur’s initial actions are parking spaces, domesti- cated spaces and green spaces. These three contexts are picked because of the weak and unclear policies that have been imposed onto them and yet all those three spaces although very categorical, are directly related to the public.
Generally, parking spaces although are actively used are not utilized to their maximal potential. Usages are limited to only parking or rented as bazaar whereas there are potential for alternative usage. In addressing that, an intervention of mobile infoshop could answer for this alternative usage. This intervention can invite the public to be activist by participating in a series of events such as communal cooking, community screening, public reading and public performance.
Domesticated space is a basic necessity but this need can’t be entirely implemented to all people. There are some people can have more than enough spaces for their domesticity needs while on the other hand, people don’t have house and are not even capable for basic living. In response to that, designation of billboards or intervening installations which could also function as dwelling space could be applied to convey this issue while at the same time play its roles as compact living space. This action can project activism among people as it provides shelter for homeless community and act as informative medium for the public.
To address the increasing lack of green spaces in the city, a series of public interventions with the aim to activate citizens into creating more green spaces in their city will be made. This is done through dispersing information and then equipping them with the skills to generate these green spaces.
fairuz sulaiman 