The Shadow City project (Reykjavík) is the result of a quest by media activists to overhaul—or democratise—Iceland’s democracy in the aftermath of the financial collapse of Iceland in 2008, which sent shock waves through its 320 000 inhabitants’ society, and has been leading to a collective self investigation by the Icelanders themselves. With the Shadow City project, and the election of a new mayor seeking a different way of doing politics, the involvement of citizens in the decision-making about Reykjavík has made a radical breakthrough. Re-launched by the city under the new name Betri Reykjavík (Better Reykjavík), through its website and social media, citizens are voicing, debating and prioritising ideas to improve their city. In turn, the city has committed itself to execute the most discussed proposals. First, in early 2010, information activist Smári McCarthy (executive director of the Iceland Modern Media Initiative) came up with the Shadow Parliament Project, an idea that was quickly picked up by Róbert Bjarnason and Gunnar Grímsson, who set up a website that allowed citizens to vote on bills, propose amendments, and discuss ongoing debates in the Parliament. Running up to the 2010 local elections, they set up the Shadow City (and the Citizens Foundation) to allow citizens to decide part of the city’s agenda. The platform, “hacked together” by motivated media activists, is one of the rare cases where new media culture deeply impacts the very structures of politics. After the elections, the Best Party, a new political movement fronted by comedian Jón Gnarr and a host of musicians and artists took power in Reykjavík and decided to firmly integrate the Shadow City concept in the decision-making process. The Best Party supported this development to the current Betri Reykjavík platform. At midday on the last working day of each month, the five ideas most debated through the platform are taken to review panels to be worked out and—after approval in the city council—to be brought to reality.
The current process of transformation of every aspect of our life towards a higher level of individual and social responsibility, developed by the projects included in this constantly updated map and by many others not yet included, is thus made visible and above all accessible and therefore open to opportunities for connections and collaborations.
Since 2003, when at Cittadellarte we started to systematically catalogue responsible practices in their different declinations around the world, the global movement of social awareness has reached a wider and wider scope of individuals, communities and institutions.
The project Geographies of Change maps this movement into the form of a participative online archive which intends to be a utility contributing to achieving two strategic global objectives: making public, visible and usable the common good represented by the concrete experiences already active in the world, and facilitating connections, both within this geography and among its hubs and any other civil society organization with which to build bridges and collaboration paths.
Created by Cittadellarte and the University of Ideas as a platform for research and action, it aims at being an open project in progress, generated by the users themselves: everybody is invited to position themselves within this geography and to explore it experimenting its potential in the context of their own research and practice.
The ultimate goal of the Geographies of Change is making more obvious, shared, incisive and deep the impact of the practices aiming at changing our societies towards more responsible cohabitation models with ourselves and the planet. Each of us is invited to consider assuming a role which goes beyond being a member of a hypothetical democratic society and activating themselves as agents of change. At Cittadellarte, we have developed an articulated narrative and an hands-on implementation model for this process: we started off by reflecting within the open laboratory of the University of Ideas on the undelivered dream of democracy (rule of the people, from ancient Greek Demos and Cratos) and on the instituting power embedded in daily practices enacted by all kinds of organizations. Each of them constitutes an actual microstate, with its legislative and governing bodies: they perform practices by means of which they actually express power. Thus we coined the term Demopraxy, by which we mean this more effective and actual declination of an old and never accomplished dream, that of Democracy.
Please refer to our websites for further information and contact:
www.cittadellarte.it/en/attivita/demopraxy
www.cittadellarte.it/unidee/
Cittadellarte is a new model of artistic and cultural institution which places art in direct interaction with the different sectors of society, in order to inspire and produce a responsible transformation through creative ideas and projects.
Michelangelo Pistoletto's symbol Rebirth is an elaboration of the mathematical sign for infinity. The two opposite circles represent nature and artifice, the central circle is the conjunction of the two and represents the womb of rebirth.
Take part too: www.terzoparadiso.org
