Interview: A counterweight to standard planning
Trevor Davies is educated in Urban Planning (Nottingham 1972), and relocated to Denmark in 1978. After establishing it in 1980, he now co-directs Copenhagen International Theatre (CIT), which has produced 55 international festivals and programmes. CIT is currently focusing on the urban programme “Metropolis” — a platform for site-specific artistic projects in Copenhagen. Davies has also set up and/or managed seven large scale projects and cultural initiatives including Copenhagen European Capital of Culture 1996 (1992–97) and Aarhus European Capital of Culture 2017 (2008–2013), Norwich City of Literature (UNESCO City of Literature) and DCCD Danish Centre for Culture and Development 1998. He has acted as a consultant for among others Nordic Council of Ministers and The Danish Arts Council on Intercultural policies, and instigated many initiatives and networks.
What do you consider to be the most urgent issues to address within your field?
I have a focus on the role of arts as a counterweight to the standardisation of urban development. One can call it public art, but in fact it is both deeper and broader, as the approach is on a number of levels. Firstly, a level of perception as to understanding the city not as a mechanical/logical/manufactured reality but as a far more complex structure, a cultural conditioned human-based organic entity which is in constant motion and change. Here the immaterial factors and human factors are perhaps even more important than the physical, trying to understand places as frames for living.
Secondly, on a level of territory, it’s about proclaiming that the determinist and logical framework approach is not working alone and that the cultural dimension must be included from the start and not seen as a “problem solver” but more as a packaging of places.
Thirdly, as a practice of integrated design and participatory design, an artistic approach often allows for a deeper, more personal and more open approach to how places/neighbourhoods and, in particular, the public urban space can be formed and used, and where we are increasingly looking for aspects of authenticity, integrity and individuality.
Fourthly, as an expression of cultural trends, subcultures are increasingly necessary to propose an alternative to mainstream architecture and design solutions, promoting globalised stereotyping. We must again try to create places where crossovers, meeting points and multi-references in urban cultures are a part of the aesthetic language and universe.
Fifthly, proposing artistic processes as creative processes where artists connect/work with local communities often stimulates long-term and more resilient socially inclusive local communities which can take on more responsibilities for managing local affairs. Sixthly, asking artists to leave their imprints on the urban landscape has an aesthetic purpose of allowing and encouraging more experimental work which reaches larger publics and stimulates a stronger relationship between the arts and us all.
What are the most important skills or practices in your work and why?
I see four major challenges in this approach. The first is to give a support system for artists who want to work in public spaces and to develop a mindset and skill set, which allows them to link their practice to often complicated socio-cultural economic realities as well as the environment as the physical context for the work. In this, one can use various models but clearly linking to urban arts organisations, festivals, academic institutions etc. is part of this, as is concrete hands-on workshops, mentoring and support.
Secondly, identifying and structuring projects as suitable platforms for this, i.e. often engaging with cities to locate suitable neighbourhoods and situations where this “cultural planning” approach might be used, is of course a prerequisite. Otherwise, these methods will simply be played out at festivals and in leisure time contexts.
Thirdly, identifying and developing ways to stimulate processes of inclusion, where we do not speak so much of audiences (from the arts or from cultural institutions) but we speak of citizens and how to focus increasingly on the role of using the arts to encourage citizens in their potentials to formulate their visions and to “dare” to take part in the public debate.
Fourthly, how to maintain a balance as an artist between individually created “free” forms of expression with clear aesthetic authorship and working in a social context with so many considerations and limitations. Many artists find this disturbing and thus are nervous about instrumentalism, and therefore we need to perhaps re-conceive what we define as art, artistic practice and artistic authorship.
This article is an excerpt from “Urgent.Practice — Culture design and design culture in the 21st century”. Read more interviews and articles from the publication here on Medium or click here to download the full publication.
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