Bureau de Change Sociale

Velvet Revolution Anniversary Event - 17 November 1989

2012-02-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

Charter 77

2011-11-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Charter 77

17 - 20 November 2011

Whitstable Library, 31-33 Oxford Street, Whitstable, CT5 1DB. Tel: 08458 247200

Uddin & Elsey present a new video work created with the residents of Whitstable and the support of Whitstable Library to coincide with the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution 17 November 1989.

The month of November is a recognised time of year when memorial days take place, to remember events which have shaped European twentieth century history, such as the Fall of the Berlin Wall on the 9th, Armistice Day on the 11th and the Velvet Revolution on the 17th. Over the last 12 months, Uddin & Elsey have traveled to five of the European towns twinned with Whitstable. In August 2011 the artists visited Ricany in the Czech Republic which is one of the towns twinned with Whitstable. The town is located 20km east of Prague and was under Communist rule until 1989.

In response to their visit, Uddin & Elsey were inspired by Charter 77 - a written document created in response to the communist regime in 1977 and which was leaked out of the country in the decade leading up to the Velvet Revolution. The authors of the document were banned from publishing under the communist government and for this reason, the local library was chosen as a site to engage with the question of censorship and freedom of information through the public presentation of Charter 77.

Displayed alongside the video are a selection of books for the public to read and engage with during the event. The artists have collaborated with Kent Libraries to select books relating to Charter 77 in order to bring the spirit of resistance from the Czech people to the town of Whitstable. Local residents of Whitstable were invited to participate in the reading of Charter 77 and each section was recorded and edited to create a collaborative video work. Participants included a vicar, a musician, a painter, a teacher, a bookseller, a former mayor, an author and a journalist.

In the summer of 2011 Uddin & Elsey transformed the Whitstable Museum Education Space into an artist-run, pop-up language cafe. They presented the project Cafe Esperanto - Bureau de Change Sociale and filled the Museum windows with images of Thomas G Masaryk. TGM was the first president of the former Czechoslovakia and his face popped up all over Prague in both, shop and cafe windows as an act of resistance in 1968 during the Prague Spring and against the invasion of Soviet tanks. Cafe Esperanto - Bureau de Change Sociale was inspired by the quote 'To learn another language is to live another life' - TGM. On the day of the event, a local resident recognised the face of TGM in the windows and told us that his mother had taken him to see the President laid-in-state at the Prague Castle in 1938.

Charter 77 - In 1977, a written declaration was created by Czech dissidents, a group of people who were forbidden to publish. Under this regime, Charter 77 was signed by many authors, artists and actors asserting a collaborative stand against the oppressive regime. The general public was afraid to openly support the dissidents for fear of dismissal from work or school. The charter members inspired and influenced the actions which led to the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The Charter’s aim was to defend human rights, freedom of thought and of expression. These events resulted in the election of Vaclav Havel, a playwright, following peaceful student demonstrations in Prague.

Cafe Esperanto

2011-09-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

Cafe Esperanto - Event - Saturday 23 July 2011

2011-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Whitstable Museum and Gallery Education Space

Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent, CT5 1DB

Café Esperanto

'To learn another language is to live another life' - Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk

Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto (Dr. Hopeful), the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that would serve as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding.

We propose to create a language café inspired by the idea of Esperanto - a politically neutral language - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

The café will allow for people to practice a foreign language by speaking with others. An informal interactive language centre for public participation including video and audio activities. A temporary environment where people are encouraged to speak with others using a foreign language. Games and props will be on hand to

enable dialogue.

This one-day event for the people of Whitstable will be organised in association with the Whitstable Twinning Association (WTA). The event will take place during the annual Oyster Festival in Whitstable where a large number of tourists descend on the seaside town. The event is planned for Saturday 23rd July 2011 to coincide with a visit from one of Whitstable’s Twin Towns - Albertslund, Denmark. The WTA members are speakers of different languages.

We will attempt to collaborate with the WTA and utilise their knowledge of other European languages. The event will run from 12pm until 6pm in the Museum’s Education space, a venue that we will transform to give a café atmosphere and which is located on Whitstable high street. It will be a social occasion and an opportunity to bring people together who wish to practice speaking European languages.

2010-08-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

We invited the audience of the Whitstable Biennale 2010 to join us for the launch of our two-year commissioned project Bureau de Change. We served tea - using crockery borrowed from Whitstable Castle - with a slice of celebratory cake to all who attended. The image on the cake was selected from the Whitstable Twinning Association (WTA) archives and this photo documents the signing of the first town twinning agreement with Borken, Germany in 1987.

A handmade EU flag was hung in the centre of the Sea Cadets Hall. A projector and screen were positioned at the back of the Hall. A slide show contained images from the WTA archive, newspaper articles, maps and images of Thomas Masaryk - a Czech politician, socialist and philosopher. Masaryk was also elected as the founding President of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918.

The Czech flag was draped over a table and an assortment of Masaryk memorabilia was arranged, including a papier-mache bust of Masaryk and an edition of 'Masaryk on Thought and Life' published in London, 1938 on loan from a North London library.

"To learn another language is to live another life" - Thomas Masaryk

Image (left to right): Roger Annabel, Chairman of the WTA, the Mayor of Borken, Germany and the Mayor of Canterbury, 1987.

Tea Party Project Launch on Sunday July 4th 2-4pm

2010-06-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

www.whitstablebiennale.com

2010-06-04T05:59:00.000-07:00

This year Uddin & Elsey will launch a two-year research project, to be presented at the Whitstable Biennale 2012, that will investigate and consider individual histories and politics of both people and place. We plan to navigate a route through Europe and attempt to critically engage with the following five towns and its communities that are twinned with Whitstable, Kent: Albertslund, Denmark; Borken, Germany; Dainville, France; Molndal, Sweden and Ricany, Czech Republic. Town twinning was set up after the Second World War in Europe as a means to aid the reconciliation process.

This blog will follow Uddin & Elsey as they travel to the twin towns of Whitstable, to engage with local people and initiate dialogue. We hope to create a series of site-related works that will be documented and made accessible through this blog. The process will explore alliances between groups of people across borders and attempt to negotiate different forms of cultural exchange through collective experience.