22.6.05

DO NOT CROSS THE LINE

( the pamphlets were lithographic prints designed by the local printers. They were in both Kannada and english)

ALERT!!!

DO NOT CROSS THE LINE

SECTION 354: WHOEVER ASSAULTS OR USES CRIMINAL FORCE TO ANY WOMAN INTENDING TO OUTRAGE OR KNOWING IT TO BE LIKELY THAT HE WILL THEREBY OUTRAGE HER MODESTY SHALL BE PUNISHED WITH IMPRISONMENT OF EITHER DESCRIPTION FOR A TERM WHICH MAY EXTEND TO TWO YEARS OR WITH FINE OR WITH BOTH.



1.HOW HAVE YOU FELT EVERYTIME YOU IGNORED A STRANGERS EYES STRIPPING YOU NAKED?

2.HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU BEEN WITNESS OR MUTE SPECTATOR TO 'EVE TEASING'/ STREET SEXUAL HARASSMENT?

3. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU WHISTLED, PASSED REMARKS, LECHED AT SOMEONE ON THE STREETS JUST FOR FUN?

street sexual harassment is an offence that has been granted normalcy due to its sheer daily recurrence.

contact us:
e: blanknoise@gmail.com
web link: www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com

..............................................................................................................................................
NAME/ CONTACT NO/ EMAIL
TICK WHAT YOU ARE


_______ __________ ___________

VICTIM PERPETRATOR SPECTATOR
photo by Smriti Chanchani. Pamphlets being distributed at Brigade Road. June 15th Posted by Hello

responses

The last month has been exciting. We've been out on the streets and trying to get things done!
There have been interventions and the news media has encouraged the project.
There have been several email responses to the project in the last couple of days, some of which I will be putting up on the Blank Noise blog.

On clothes and 'ASKING FOR IT'

hi,
how can u defend urself about the dresses the gals used 2 wearin mg roads & other roads whoch r very excotong for men & i thonk only a5 to15% of gals wear the full covered dresses!


Mr Nag Raj
what do you mean by the dresses are too exciting for men?are you implying that women should not be dressed in a way that theylike because men cannot control their sexual urge??looking forward to hearing from you .will open this topic for debate on the blog.

20.6.05

note the car no. please. This man was making sexual gestures towards me with his car windows rolled down. Posted by Hello
WANTED:Male: 38-45 years of age.
Car with this no.
KA 04 P 8713
Posted by Hello509. Word gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a womanWhoever intending to insult the modesty of any woman utters any word makes any sound or gesture or exhibits any object intending that such word or sound shall be heard or that such gesture or object shall be seen by such woman or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

17.6.05

15th June ONE NIGHT STAND

Y R U LOOKIN AT ME

THANKING EACH ONE OF YOU.

people forming the sentence and distributing pamplets
Deepak, Payal,Bindiya,Pooja, Pallavi, Paromita, Rohit, Manoj, Nishant, Tanu, Nishita, Priyanka, Romal, Smriti M, Tushar , Yashas S. and me.

Thanking Krishnaraj and Ashwin for distributing pamphlets.

The auto driver carrying the opinion poll, Pramod.

The two I take for granted- life savers: Smriti and Umang- thankyou for documenting.

Also thanking Umesh and Yashas Chandra for documenting!

and many thanks to all those who did show up in support !!
photo by Smrit Chanchani. pamphlets were distributed to men and women on MG/ St Marks, Brigade and Residency Road, Bangalore. The pamphlets were both in kannada and english. Posted by Hello
June 15 2005. Photo by Smriti Chanchani Posted by Hello

14.6.05

Hi

One Night Stand is a mobile public performance about asserting yourself on the streets.

This performance/event invites you to be participant.

We begin at 5 pm from the MG/ St Marks Road crossing and gradually move towards Brigade and Residency Road.

Looking forward to seeing you,

With kind regards,
Jasmeen Patheja.

Contact Jasmeen at 98868 40612

Email: blanknoise@gmail.com
www.blanknoiseproject.blogpsot.com


Posted by Hello

5.6.05

"New genre public art [is] visual art that uses both traditional and nontraditional media to communicate and interact with a broad and diversified audience about issues directly relevant to their lives [and] is based on engagement." So writes Suzanne Lacy, a long-time practitioner of such work. Engagement with members of the public is the premise on which this public art tutorial is founded: the hands-on work of the class will consist in exploring issues directly relevant to the lives of targeted audience-participants. We will develop art designed for a life outside of the gallery, art that emphasizes a process of engagement with issues. "

http://www.communityarts.net/canu/syllabi/archivefiles/2005/04/art_of_the_publ.php

2.6.05

SHORT TEXT MESSAGE:

One Night Stand: public participatory performance to reclaim the streets. May 27 Brigade Road Coffee Day 6 pm. Please call to participate. 98868 40612


27th may 2004

Payal, Romal, Sandhya and I are drenched as we enter at Coffee House on MG Road. Time 4 30 pm.

I begin to believe that god is a man against feminism.

It continues to pour and I receive a hundred text messages:

“Is it on?”

“Sorry I don’t think I can make it.”

“Am stuck in traffic.”


6 pm:

It is still drizzling. The traffic is less. We move from coffee house to coffee day. The people there are nice, smiley, friendly.

Out of the 13 expected the people that showed up were Payal, Rahima, Romal, Sandhya, Hemangini, Rahima, Namita. Umesh. Smriti, Umang and Yashas showed up as documenters of the event..

People required: 14
Numbers present: 8
People missing: 6


“Let’s get people on the street to participate!”



The event for the evening took various avatars while being introduced to different people.

At the traffic signal we say, “Hello, we are doing social work here. Can you put these posters up at the police traffic signals?” we also let him know that we were going to do a small performance without interrupting the traffic.

( The traffic police man was a nice man. He whistled and we would exit. No problem on that front at all. )


Or “hello we are doing a project on street sexual harassment…err….eve teasing and we invite you to participate. Would you like to be an alphabet of the sentence, ‘ Y R U LOOKING AT ME?’ and appear/disappear at traffic signals?


We targeted the shop “Health and Glow”: a shop where one can buy all the girly things from body wash to cosmetics to sanitary napkins. Rahima, Namita and I went about introducing the project idea to both customers and the working staff. We were lucky to find participants in the customers there. Neha, Vikram, Siraj and Rajitha there. THANKYOU!!

(Everyone is all smiles and we walk onto the road.)



Yes it happened.

The reactions:

Curiosity
Surprise
Discomfort.
More questions
Public support.

“I think people were willing to listen. it was a good place to catch them. But they need a slogan. Something condensed so that they get the point. There were also some inquisitive people who got into a dialogue and supported it.” Smriti Chanchani.


"hi machlee,i thought our performance was somewhat rudimentary, but it was bold.i liked the idea of facing the public at the traffic junction.was confrontational,its also cool that we just stood there in silence.i dunno if i'm up for another performance on the same lines.it takes a lot out of you.but i'm up for something more exciting.lets work out some other performance modes/ideas.i see myself working a lot with public performance too, so it might be helpful for me to think along these lines.what i've been uneasy about is if theres space for another artist on your project and if i'm okay with not being sole producer/author and helping someone else at this stage.and the other thing is if you're okay with someone else's creative labour.little came across about the cause.thats there.pamphlets all that i think needs to be worked out if you want to.see you soon,rahi. "


" We should give additional information, such as pamphlets."- Vikram.

Plan B:

Let’s do it again. Lets improvise on it.

1.6.05

between 19th-20th May Posted by Hello
two days before the 'ONE NIGHT STAND', Payal, Romal, Rahima pasted section 354 on the city walls.  Posted by Hello
photo by Smriti C Posted by Hello
participants: Payal, Sandhya, Namita, Neha, Vikram, Hemangini, Rahima, Siraj,Romal, Umesh,Rajitha and Jasmeen. Together we formed a sentence " Y R U LOOKING AT ME" and appeared / dissapeared from traffic signals. Later posters stating section 354 from the IPC were handed out. Thanking Umang, Smriti ,Yashas and Umesh for documenting. Posted by Hello
Bangalore. May 27th Friday. 2005. photo by Smriti Chanchani. location: brigade road/ residency road. Posted by Hello
photo by Natasha Hemrajani. Marine Drive. Mumbai May 21, 2005. Posted by Hello
THIS IS A REFLECTIVE BADGE. IF YOU WOULD LIKE ONE AND DONT KNOW WHERE TO ACCESS IT CONTACT ME AT blanknoise@gmail.com Posted by Hello