Central Walkabout and Eat Central Project

This two-part project was organised and instigated by the Trinity Session (Marcus Neustetter and Stephen Hobbs). You can find out more about them here: http://www.onair.co.za/broadcast/

The first installment entailed an exploratory walkabout in the suburb of Central, Port Elizabeth. A group of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Fine Art students partook in this exercise as a means of developing ideas for an intervention or art event, to coincide with the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, which would take place at the Athenaeum gallery and/or surrounding area of Central. 

The walkabout acted as a means for me to conduct an interactive activity which was based on the idea of developing an understanding of a space via mapping. I provided participants with a pamphlet (see pamphlet flyer below) that contained a street map of Central and ‘instructions’ for the mapping process. In the instructions I asked that participants construct their own maps and understanding of the space of Central. They were asked to collect tangible evidence – objects, tracings or rubbings of textures, drawings, lists of special sites, colours, animal sightings, plant life, street signs, paper trails, etc – which would be collated to form a big map of all findings as an alternate map of Central or a “Central Walkabout Map”, marking that day and activity in particular, even if it made no sense as a guide to viewers outside of the project. The maps below were drawn by the students on the day of the walkabout and are the result of this exploration.

   

The Eat Central project was the ensuing second installment to the Central Walkabout. The Trinity Session sent out an invitation asking for participants to go on their own food expeditions in Central and record the food and people that they experienced there via photographs, film, sounds bytes, interviews, and any other medium they might deem suitable. My contribution consisted of the creation of an “Eat Central Map” or “Food Map” of Central, following on from my mapping exploration conducted at the Central Walkabout. This entailed the documentation and mapping of a “Found Food Sites Expedition”, in which I would explore Central's food outlets or “found food sites”. Included below is my Eat Central Map, as well as a series of photographs of the facades of the food outlets - taken on my cellphone camera as I conducted the mapping of them. If you're in Port Elizabeth, feel free to print out and use the Eat Central Map to conduct your own food expedition of Central and make additions to the found food sites!