Explorations into Spatial Justice: Mak Center, Urban Future Initiative, Los Angeles, California
by Ismail Farouk
Justice is something
that is because of its absence...
It is an absence that pleads;
its mark the searing wound
that takes place
when injustice pervades
space.
Goenawan Mohamad
On God and Other Unfinished Things
'Spatial Justice' is a term with which many operating in the field of contemporary art may be unfamiliar. An etymological dissection reveals the term to be, at its simplest, an examination of the justice of space. But here one must assume a point of entry, what we mean by space. The social, economic and political aspects of this issue are as numerous as the formulations we understand to be space. More specifically, spatial justice (as the term is most commonly used) refers to the struggles over public space. This is the core of my research practice and the essence of my artistic practice.
I am writing this from my home in South Africa, after spending the past two months in Los Angeles, California as part of the Mak Center, Urban Future Initiative (UFI) (http://makcenterufi.org/). The UFI is a fellowship programme that sees researchers from diverse nations come to LA for two months to pursue research topics related to urban phenomena. Fellows come from nations that are under-represented in the LA context to work with the MAK Center in order to create a meaningful cross-cultural exchange.
My work as part of the UFI programme aimed to map patterns of spatial injustice, informed by a comparative analysis of the landscapes of LA and Johannesburg. Entitled, 'Creative Strategies for Spatial Justice', my project documented patterns of spatial injustice, and explored a variety of interventions aimed at producing a more 'just' urban landscape. The basis for my work is the common nature of exclusion experienced as a result of the dominant neo-liberal urban planning policies being implemented in cities globally (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism).
Alongside this research, I was fortunate enough to exhibit my art work at the Schindler House (http://www.makcenter.org) in West Hollywood. My show, 'Cancelled without Prejudice' examines the contradictions of mainstream urban development in Johannesburg and Los Angeles, revealing a common narrative unfolding in both cities: the privatisation of public space and the criminalisation of poverty.
The title of my exhibition comes from my US visa, issued by the US government so that I could travel to America: 'cancelled without prejudice' is a designation that enables detainment-free entry at a US border. It implicitly points to its opposite, the existence of 'prejudice', or pre-judgement, which is a growing phenomenon in the immigration policy of the US and other nations.
The show title also functions as a metaphor for the new global spatial order. Fuelled by paranoia and fear, the right of access to space is increasingly controlled by an obsession with security. This obsession ensures that it is mainly goods which are exchanged and globalised; the same ease of movement is not afforded to people.
At the scale of the 'neighborhood', it is the most marginal sectors of society who are excluded from the new global spatial order. In both Johannesburg and LA, the expanding privatised urban environment characterised by the formation of Business Improvement Districts (BIDS), seems to support the perception of cleanliness and safety. However, BIDS concentrate power for the property owners only, who benefit as a result of the surge in property prices. BIDS also suppress the varied expression of human interaction and limit the capacity of small businesses to stay afloat. Ultimately, BIDS have no benefits for poorer residents and often result in the end of a livelihood. My proposal at the UFI is an attempt to understand the patterns of poverty and injustice in relationship to the privatisation of public space.
My work in downtown Johannesburg focuses on the uneven quality of life caused by the implementation of BIDS. I've been working in the Joubert Park area, the so called 'chaos precinct' where there has been an increase of police activity as the city continues on its drive to 'clean up' the city for the 2010 football World Cup. Earlier this year, I witnessed and documented hundreds of migrants being arrested and loaded into trucks in Joubert Park. In the process of their arrest, many human rights abuses occurred. Sometimes entire families, including children and babies, were arrested and detained. All of this activity occurred at the vehicular entrance to the Johannesburg Art Gallery, where bribery and corruption were common features.
In LA, my work focused on the Skid Row area. Skid Row is a low income area characterised by visible poverty and associated social development priorities such as substance abuse, homelessness and food insecurity. Ten years ago, the sidewalks of Skid Row were characterised by hard drug use, prostitution and by homeless 'encampments'. The sidewalks of Skid Row have transformed significantly over the past two years. Through the coordinated efforts of the local BIDS and the LA Police Department's Safer Cities Initiative (SCI), homeless people have been pushed off the streets and into jails, as their homeless status renders them criminals. Police officers have been steadily increasing the issuing of citations for petty misdemeanours and the increase of citations has resulted in an increase of arrests.
Most homeless people in Skid Row are war veterans and people suffering from psychological trauma. They need care and support, not jails. And this is the message which social movements in LA voiced in a recent mass protest action against SCI. I participated in and documented the anti-SCI protest and was left astounded by the diversity of non-profit service providers who mobilised against SCI.
Today, the notorious 'port-a-potties' once used for prostitution, have been replaced by expensive self-cleaning public toilets. The new toilets in Skid Row are free. However, the toilets are maintenance-heavy, and are unreliable. The automated toilets do not offer employment opportunities either as they are self-cleaning. I made a small video demonstrating the self-cleaning operation; this video serves as a metaphor for the wider clean up of the area, for the streamlining of society and for the limitations on human behaviour in controlled urban space.
Weekly clean ups by the BIDS security guards ensure that people's belongings are removed from the sidewalks and placed into a storage facility without owners' consent. A new homeless storage facility in Skid Row provides people with an opportunity to check in belongings. However, local activists attest to the negative nature of the facility, as it is seen as a mechanism of control and regulation. People's belongings are stored in garbage bins, and the process of rummaging through a garbage bin for one's stuff is clearly dehumanising.
Whilst my comparative research of Joubert Park and the Skid Row area in LA has pointed to many parallels present in global urbanism, there are key differences. For one, I am left concluding that poverty in LA doesn't equal poverty in Johannesburg. The poor in LA have options open to them. They are able to access three meals a day, they are able to access recovery programmes, skills development programmes, and they are able to find counselling and recreational activities. In Johannesburg, the poor have more limited options available to them. There are no social development programmes and hunger is a reality. Respite occasionally comes through a handful of faith organisations who struggle with extremely limited resources.
Despite the contrasting definitions of poverty, the contradictory goals of a clean and safe urban space seem to pervade all sensibility as those in power continue to apply a heavy hand against the most marginal sectors of society in cities.
Ismail Farouk is a Johannesburg-based artist, writer and urban researcher
ëCancelled Without Prejudiceí is on view at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles until January 4.
MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles
Schindler House, 835 North Kings Road, West Hollywood
Tel: 323-651-1510
Email:
office@makcenter.org
www.makcenter.org
Hours: Wed - Sun 11am-6pm
MAK Center Urban Future Initiative
www.makcenterufi.org
