the MG exhibition on-route
by Marian Stindt
Movement, mobility, locality are themes which occur in numerous theoretical texts, practices and philosophies, but still, to grasp the essence of the Moving Gallery, I had to start consciously use public transport.
Only the conscious experience of the environment made it clear that the public transport vehicle it a zone of absolute unconsciousness. It is a duration of empty time.
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On buses and trains conscious decisions of which route to take are not made, but passivity and 'waiting' rule the space. Static figures, scrolling thumbs, semi innovative advertisement panels, it is a scenario, once consciously analysed, which can evoke a feeling of alienation. Thinking about this capsule of empty time - the bus - and rethinking the space, was the core argument to get involved with the Moving Gallery.
While inter-human interactions on the bus are usually very restricted and based on avoidance of eye contact, local transport itself can be an element of identification and comfort. The familiarity of the robotic announcement voice can give comfort in a constantly accelerating city. The particularity in pronouncing peculiars street names, the sequence of bus stops or the pattern of the upholstered seats can all create a sense of belonging.
The Moving Gallery defies common viewing habits and boundaries that surround contemporary art museums and galleries. Artistic positions in and referring to the non-place of the bus is an intervention into individual life circles that may or may not be receptive for artistic approaches. Here especially the repetitive exposure to contemporary art that might not be decoded or evaluated, at first sight, adds to the experience. The seventh bus ride next to an abstract video artwork might be the moment of engagement, interest in and enjoyment of the work.
While the structure of the bus net dictates certain ways for us, Alda Terracciano uses collective and individual memories to redraw the bus map by its most important agents, the bus users. The oral history, narrated by people from Reading, is recorded, archived and made accessible on the bus, which allows us to connect known places with unknown stories and histories.
Buses are mapping the daily life and are dictating the routes we take, the streets we walk and sights we see every day. Reading Memory Routes passes the steering wheel to the masses who are given a voice within the mapping process (who are colonising a network with individual histories).
William Lailey’s photographic portraits (The Photo Bus) ) reflect the diversity of Reading’s community through a harmonising lens, while Ben Mosher’s work Signal – Blue Red Yellow investigates potential disunity and disparity, present in every and crucial for every democratic political system. Communication culture has to be established beyond isolating and filtered news feeds on social media. Especially the dialogue between disagreeing parties, arguing from different perspectives and the importance of remaining in conversation with opposing opinions, even when they don’t seem to lead anywhere, is highlighted.
Applying a language of mathematics, architecture and chaos, Sam Stead creates #Line Drawing 25 & #Line Drawing 26, patterns from parallel lines which embrace the vehicle as a means of communication with the surrounding environment. The usage of the exterior of a bus to reach an audience for advertising is very common, using this core idea but encoding a message into geometrical forms misappropriates commercial strategies into an aestheticized experience.
Availability at the touch of a button conquers increasing spheres of life. The necessity of a 24/7 delivery culture is debatable. While especially commercial goods and services on demand flood the market, some human needs and desires are being pushed to the background. Tim Wilson's installation of alternative buttons on the bus play with the perception of time, desire for deceleration and encourage reflection on unconscious desires that are affected by the repetition and bustle of everyday life.
Finally, Therese Lawlor created The Reading Quiz, incorporating her painting of local places and details of distinctive landscapes in Reading to involve the infant generation of Reading and challenge their urge to play and proof their knowledge of the town, that you won’t find in a history book.