Hub Notes: The "Lane Workers" of Beijing, 8/15/08
Hub Notes: The "Lane Workers" of Beijing, 8/15/08
The “Lane Workers” of Beijing
8/9/08
As I was explaining the concept of “lane workers” to a group of visitors in front of Susan Hefuna’s video, Cairo Crossroads—100 minutes they brought up a recent story printed in the New York Times about the Beijing government building walls, screens, nets and other barriers to hide street vendors and impoverished homes from public view during the Olympics. “Before Guests Arrive, Beijing Hides Some Messes” (July 29, 2008) tells the story of various shop owners and residents who received anonymous notices announcing the construction of walls around or in front of their properties. Intended to “rectify the Olympic environment,” these barriers are made of brick, veils of green plastic netting, and in some cases are simply large billboards with the “Beijing 2008” Olympic logo. The migrants and working poor who live in these neighborhoods have resisted pressure from city developers for years to vacate the area. Now that several running and cycling races will pass through, authorities have come up with other ways of eliminating them. I thought this was an interesting illustration of the people who are left behind as a neighborhood “evolves.” By hosting the Olympics, Beijing affirms its growing position in global culture and economy, while the local culture and economy that has sustained families through generations suffers. Are there ways to include or accommodate local communities in global development? The efforts of an institution like the Townhouse Gallery may be one example: it acts in the international contemporary art world and in the Antikhana community of Cairo, deepening these two roles by integrating them.
—Becky Brown
Links:
NY Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/sports/olympics/29beijing.html?pagewan...
Slideshow:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/29/world/0729-BEIJING_index.htm...