FRIDAY 17 – FEBRUARY 9 | Marxist philisopher Henri Lefebvre famously coined the term ‘the right to the city’. Far more than individual liberties to access urban resources, this is a common right to change ourselves through reshaping the processes of urbanisation. Organised by Java Arts, this year’s Our City Festival – founded on the very same precept – brings together a cast of 200, with more than 45 projects and 19 ‘cultural partners’ showcasing the very best of the country’s artistic and architectural talent across Phnom Penh, Battambang and – for the first time – Siem Reap. Artistic twists on how not to fall off your moto; sunset poetry readings on the essence of transience, and an interactive song-and-dance parade featuring cyclos cocooned in coloured string. Dance, sculpture, music, film, literature, painting, photography, performance art: creativity surrounds you, absorbs you, draws you into a world that is familiar yet unfamiliar all at once. Disciplines merge; surprises come in the form of ingenuity, innovation and reinvention. Rotting mansions serve as plinths. Art spills right out of gallery windows and onto the very streets. For almost a month, between January 17 and February 9, the country’s three main urban hubs will come alive with interactive art installations; architectural play spaces; urban flash mobs; spoken word on street corners and myriad hands-on workshops for one and all. The focus: ‘space and its relationship to the individual’. To find out what’s happening and where, visit ourcityfestival.org.
WHO: Artists, architects and urbanites
WHAT: Our City Festival 2014
WHEN: January 17 – February 9
WHERE: Phnom Penh, Battambang and Siem Reap
WHY: We built this city