ENHANCING PERFORMATIVE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Public transport is not only a public utility and a means of accessing other public places; it is also itself a mobile public space (Paget-Seekins & Tironi, 2016). Using public transport is an outdoor “necessary activity,” which is more or less compulsory, such as going to work or waiting for a bus, where people are in “passive contact” with each other –they only see and hear other people– and only minimum activity takes place (Ghel, J. 2011, p. 9-13). Through 2 workshops in Amsterdam and in Athens we created a toolkit with artistic games and props, which all passengers can use and interact with others in public transport. My aim is to empower citizens to transform the non-place (Augé, 1995) in means of public transportation into performance space/time and, subsequently, social space/time (Lefebvre, 1991) through a creative form of civic encounter.

SPECIAL THANKS

Vasso Pappi, Stali Simeon, Maria Pisiou, Ina Varka, Yannis Koimtzis, Orestis Alexiadis, Angeliki Pantazi, Zafi ria Tsirakaki, Dimitra Roustani, Giorgios Skantzaris, Nancy Papaioannou, Nicole Koimtzi, Elisavet Pliakostathi, Rafica Chawishe, Marilena Chrysanthou, Prodromos Tsirogiannis, Heleen de Hoon, David Limaverde, Danai Theodoridou, Xenia Tsompanidou, Ulla Havenga.