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Public Art Opportunities by CountryZen

September 18th, 2009 4:59 AM

INSTRUCTIONS: Create public art opportunities.

Yay, my first task!
The NGO I help run was asked to participate in this years Warsaw Multicultural Street Party, and we had to decide what we were going to do. Rather than a standard presentation of what we do on a daily basis, we wanted something that would get the audience involved as much as possible and I thought I could get this task nailed at the same time.

What I came up with is an interactive photostory presenting the journey of a Chechen family seeking protection in Europe. We had two of our members play the part of the family, while our guests would be invited to act the part of people they meet on their way. The whole thing would be photographed and made into a photostory.

To make a long story short, after writing the scene descriptions and rehearsing the whole thing just once, we packed our costumes and equipment and set off to the Street Party. Once we set up our tent, we wera afraid for a moment that the wonderful Vietnamese water theater nearby would draw all the attention away from us, but soon we had our first visitors. Many were too shy to try acting in our scenes, but those who agreed mostly did fine. At one point we were visited by a group of Chechen kids with whom we often work at a refugee reception center. They loved our actors' costumes. We only saw one negative reaction to our project - a guy yelled at us in strong Russian accent, accusing us of supporting terrorism. There was little we could do to convince him that helping refugees doesn't harm anyone.

After we finished our last scene, we were in for a pleasant surprise - the Chechen kids borrowed some loudspeakers and set up a lezginka (traditional dance from Caucasus) ring next to our tent, asking everyone to join them. We did, of course, too bad I couldn't get anyone to take pictures of us dancing.

I'm still working on turning the pictures I took into a photostory, but so far it's coming out surprisingly good - we might even be able to publish it in print.

Anyway, enough talking, pictures will tell you more.

- smaller

Preparations

We put our stall by the Warsaw University gate, next to a Vietnamese water theater.

First scene - bad news

One of the organizers of the street party agreed to play the part of our protagonists' neighbor, informing them about their relative's kidnapping.

Second scene - Goodbye

In these scene our protagonists are given a fond farewell by their family. The girl playing the part of the relative doesn't quite look lilke a typical Chechen highlander - perhaps we should have taken a spare headscarf.

Third scene - Human trafficking

Our protagonists pay a shady character for illegal transport to France. If only actual shady characters were so nice...

Fourth scene - at the border

They arrive at Polish border, where they ask for protection. We forgot to take military uniforms to the street party, but accidently the girl playing the border guard happend to be dressed just right for the part.

Fifth scene - the doctor

The doctor at the refugee center was supposed to be bored and tired, but the girl playing her part hjust couldn't stop smiling. In spite of that the scene came out pretty ok.

Sixth scene - work

While applying for refugee status, the applicants are not allowed to work. Our protagonist managed to find an illegal gig at a construction site, but is constantly abused by his employer.

Sixth scene - variant

This was the only scene that we managed to do with two different guest actors. They both did great.

Seventh scene - interrogation

Our protagonist is interrogated by the authorities about the circumstances that caused him to flee Chcechnya.

09-france.JPG

In this scene our protagonists decide to move to France, but they are stopped and deported back to Poland according to EU regulations.

Last scene - decision

After waiting for a couple of months, the family receives the decision granting them the refugee status. A social worker describes their new rights and obligations.

Lezginka

Lezginks is a traditional dance from Caucasus and one of the most improtant manifestations of modern Chechen culture. Although this show was not on the official schedule of the Street Party, it drew bigger audience than manny official attractions.

Lezginka continued