Audio salon on congestion
On Friday May 27th, 2011 the artist collective C&H paralyses the Rue de Flandre, the historic gateway to the city centre, with a giant traffic jam. Inspired by the shortstory ‘The Southern Thruway’ by Julio Cortázar, they stage the paradox of mobility that brings its opposite with it… In the midst of this apocalyptic landscape, the inhabitants of the city take it upon themselves to invent a new life in symbiosis with the stagnating stream of the now useless vehicles. Local communities and economies emerge.
Inspired by the traffic jam, SARMA did an interview with John Urry about the car, its iconic value and its contemporary illusions, about (im)mobility and locality, about public space and the privatization of space, about ecology, transition and capitalism, about congestion in society and more specific in art practices. The interview is availalbe as an audio salon on the website. Part of the interview with John Urry was broadcasted on FM Brussel (98.8) during the traffic jam.