27 Februari 2008 - A white woman sitting behind a sewing machine on a busy street around Warwick Junction, Durban, is not a very obvious sight in a society where race differences are still a contentious issue, one would say. Through Cascoland however these kinds of pre conditioned perceptions are challenged without much ado. Simply challenging the fear factor in one’s self, and the space around, through art ….and some common sense, that is all it takes.
Challenging these socially restrictive motives is exactly what designer Marie-Jose Hamers did today. Without fear, building momentum for the public art festival that lies ahead. To forge social partnerships through a simple but kind gesture towards the people that form part or daily make use of the public space around Dala Collective workspace.
Designer Marie-Jose Hamers hit the street with her ‘Bag and Forth’ project, situating herself outside Dala Collective workspace. In one of the concrete market stalls, she put up a banner inviting passers by to ‘swap your bag for 1 day & have it pimped’. In translation it means that Marie-Jose asks passers by to give her their bag for one day and she will beautify it. In exchange she gives them another bag for the time being.
Just like Indre Klimaite and Tamlyn Young’s ‘Mobile Wish and Photo Studio’, operational for a second day in a row, the ‘Bag and Forth’ project, socially, claims artistic territory for the Cascoland project. Both projects make people get involved without having to commit themselves too much. Marie-Jose’s project also has a little booklet that she wants her ‘customers’ to fill in. Basic but not too obvious questions like ‘today somebody said to me….’ , ‘first thing I do when I get home….’ , and ‘today I noticed….’, form another blueprint of the audience Cascoland can expect.
