Re-visioning the Suburbs
Wrights and Sites
Wrights & Sites (http://www.mis-guide.com/) is a group of four artist-researchers committed to producing experimental, site-specific work across a range of media. Formalised in 1997 and based in Exeter (UK), the four core members are Stephen Hodge, Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith & Cathy Turner. Collectively, they aim to explore and celebrate space and place through site-specific performance, Mis-Guided Tours & published Mis-Guides, ‘drifts’, mythogeographic mapping and public presentations & articles.
The city of Exeter (UK) has acted as a laboratory for Wrights & Sites since the company’s formation. Stephen Hodge created one particular project with Exeter buses and bus routes into the suburbs: http://people.exeter.ac.uk/shodge/eaz.html
In the last few years the group has begun to explore the ways in which their work can be transferred to other environments, from larger cities to rural islands. For example, in 2007 Wrights and Sites curated a season of work in Vienna, including an urban safari: http://mis-guide.com/vienna/programme.html#f
Stadlnova: A Fictive Suburb
Stadlnova is a growing collective of people, creatively turning prevalent notions about peripheries inside-out. Stadlnova is a joint project of ‘urbanflow’, Bratislava, and ‘Mobile Initiative Kultur, Vienna’. The project centres on a fictive suburb linking Vienna and Bratislava. View the results at: http://stadlnova.col-me.info/-idea-/index.php
Upper Toronto: A Science Fiction Urban Design Project by Small Wooden Shoe, Quiet Babylon & a cast of thousands
More urban than suburban, nonetheless, this project asks very relevant questions about redesigning the city. Visit the project site at http://uppertoronto.ca/about
