City Mine(d)
by Tom de Forze

City Mine(d) is a production house for urban interventions, committed to the creation of cutting edge public artwork, the re-appropriation of public space and the development of new forms of urban citizenship. The initially Belgian NGO now has agencies in Brussels, Barcelona and London.

The objectives of the association are the realization and initiation of an urban movement, the realization and stimulation of urban projects, the organization and support enabling these initiatives, and the stimulation of a critical reflection with respect to the city.

City Mine(d) was founded in Brussels in 1997. In 2003 it expanded to Barcelona and London in order to realize its view of the complex web of cultural exchanges that informs contemporary urban life. Local agencies in London and Barcelona are registered offices of the head office in Brussels. City Mine(d) is a non-profit organization by Belgian law. This plan focuses on the London Office.

Our work has two strands: creating interventions in public spaces and supporting other people or initiatives who have a similar vision of the city. In both cases we aim to work with representatives of certain distinct groups: up-and-coming artists, urban dwellers and those who regulate city life.

Our goal is fourfold: capture the imagination and the diverse creative potential of the city by encouraging cutting edge public artwork; re-appropriate public space –roads, airwaves, stations, estates, parks, squares, virtual space- and make it the arena for social, cultural and artistic encounters; contribute to new forms of urban citizenship by combining the empowering qualities of culture with dynamic alliances and collaborations – at all levels from the very local to the inter-city; encourage the propagation of knowledge and experience acquired during development of the urban interventions.

City Mine(d) produces urban interventions: works of public art created by a broad coalition of local and supra-local partners. The cultural engagement with public spaces enhances the untapped potential of these sites, and meanwhile also changes the aspect and the image of the surrounding area. City Mine(d) believes that urban interventions are a powerful way to the address social, economical and environmental questions faced by cities.

The creation of the work gives cause to a number of urban players from different backgrounds and with completely divergent agendas, to come together. Once brought together, this unusual coalition becomes a place where other tensions can be addressed or mediated. This strategy enables us to tackle barriers to development, and empower different participants to table their concerns regardless of the inequalities that otherwise prevent them from doing so (be they gender, age, race, able-bodiedness, class, or geography). In this way the urban intervention contributes to new forms of urban citizenship.

City Mine(d) also links up other groups who do urban interventions, also known as urban initiatives: an emerging field involving art, sport, dance, radio, tactical media, music and more. They all take the metropolis both as their setting and as a source of inspiration. Often their cutting edge artwork has not yet been recognized by funding bodies or cultural institutions, because of their innovative or sometimes bold character. The diversity of the activities is explained by the broad definition of public space - to include roads, airwaves, stations, estates, parks, squares and virtual space. We hope it will further the development of this particular culture by putting a number of practitioners in contact with each other, so allowing them to pool human, financial and intellectual resources.

http://citymined.org