Guerrilla Geography

Mission:Explore

2010-06-19T20:31:00.000+01:00

A number of us who first started this Guerrilla Geography blog are now focusing our attentions on the Mission:Explore project.

To find out more visit The Geography Collective blog and the Mission:Explore website.

Safe Identities?

2008-12-04T19:04:00.000Z

People, place and identity

The next GG action is planned for Saturday 24^th January, to coincide with ‘Engaging Geography’ (see http://engaginggeography.wordpress.com ). It will take place in Newcastle-upon-Tyne city centre, 3-5pm … details of meeting point will be posted nearer the time.

This event is intended to raise questions and promote debate around the introduction of identity cards in the UK, and their impact on people’s everyday geographies. Members of the public will be offered ‘free identity cards’: one side listing some of the information that will be included on the cards, to invite the public to think about the implications of this (eg. going to a ‘biometric enrolment centre’ to be fingerprinted); the other side listing some broader questions/issues around space, place, citizenship …eg "Can you trust the government of 20 years from now?"

Please come and join us, whether you want to come to some or all of the engaging geography event (at the Star and Shadow cinema in Newcastle) or not …

RSVP in the Guerrilla Geography Facebook group.

2008-07-10T12:47:00.000+01:00

Manchester: Beyond Naughtiness

2008-03-30T23:03:00.001+01:00

Start Time:	Friday, June 20, 2008 at 5:00pm
End Time:	Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 5:00pm
Location:	Manchester
City/Town:	Manchester, United Kingdom

The next major Guerrilla Geography event is being held in Manchester on Saturday 21st June to coincide with the TRIP conference (http://trip2008.wordpress.com/). In this event the public will be asked to (anonymously) give information about a naughty memory within Manchester city centre. The place of this event will be recorded onto a map, and the details of the event will be recorded by audio device. Ultimately this information will be used to map the geography of naughtiness within Manchester: a direct link between public activity and geographical thinking. It is hoped that the map and information will be displayed as a piece of conceptual art in time for the GA conference 2009 in Manchester.

There will be cheap accommodation on the Friday and Satuday evenings, and rural exploration and rambling on the Sunday.

You are welcome to come to some of this, all of this or none of this(and then lie and say you were cool and that you did and it was great).

Full details on Facebook...

Upstaged?

2008-03-14T19:07:00.003Z

A few weeks back Guerrilla Geographers started up a group on Facebook called 'We're going to change Britain.' A few weeks later the group is nearly 50,000 strong and off the back of this geographical conversation and campaign we entered Upstaged, a talent show on BBC 3 in which you are given 6 hours to out perform another act on a sister stage. See how we got on here and watch additional clips of our efforts in the news archive for Tuesday the 11th of March.

1st British Waterboarding Championships

2008-03-02T16:49:00.012Z

In direct response to the recent debate around if Waterboarding is torture, guerrilla geographers inverted the practice into a competitive sport and held the first British Waterboarding Championships in central London last Saturday.

Two teams entered the competition with one single aim... to see who could stand being Waterboarded the longest in a head to head knock-out challenge. The Blue Team and Black Team, both made up of Guerrilla Geographers took turns in being boarded by the opposition as competitors had two turns to see how long they could last. At first both teams struggled to make even 30 seconds, but by the end of the day some competitors lasted nearly a full minute.

The embassy of the United States of America was the backdrop to the first round of the competition. Competitors took turns in having a wet cloth stuffed into their mouth and over their nose before having water poured onto their faces continually until they tapped the ground to show that they could last no longer. As they breathed water through their noses and into their lungs each competitor found it harder and harder to beat their rival. Unlike secret, invisible and private Waterboarding carried out by security serivces - the competitors could stop when they wanted and knew that they were in control of the situation. Despite this, all of the competitors felt fear and panic as their bodies were slowly starved of oxygen.

The Guerrilla Geographers are now calling for Waterboarding to become a recognised Olympic sport ready for the 2012 games in London. A spokesman for the movement said "Part of the reason why London was awarded the 2012 Olympic games was the innovative use of iconic locations for the sporting events such as Horse Guards for the Volleyball. Grosvenor's Square, home to the US Embassy or Millbank opposite MI6 were home to our championships and would serve as ideal locations for the 2012 games." The geographers are hoping to have support of the present United States government which is openly supportive of Waterborading.

All photographs by Bruno Vincent

For a full justification of the competition, read Jon Cloke's call for participation.

Guerrilla Geographers... forcing people to see our world(s) in new ways

BBC (up)staged Guerrilla Geography?

2008-02-21T15:17:00.005Z

We're having a crack at taking over a stage on the new BBC 3 programme upstaged. We're focusing on recruiting 2 million people to be more friendly to each other on journeys and generally around the place, but we'll also be getting up to some good psychogeography guerrilla fun. We'd be delighted to here your ideas and even more delighted if you would sign into the Upstaged website, become our fan, vote for our video and get us unto the show!

http://upstaged.external.bbc.co.uk/We're+going+to+change+Britain.

If you're a geographer and have something to bring to the stage do let us know at guerrillageography@gmail.com. We need geographers to go out and do some urban exploration, attempt to be friendly to the public and speak to us about why it is that some places in the country are just so much more friendly than others....

LONDON TORTURE

2008-02-15T14:30:00.002Z

PART OF THE SPACE EXPLORATION DAY

As Sibley has emphasized, ‘outsiders’ cannot be understood in isolation: the interactions between the ‘mainstream’ society and outsiders and the spaces into which each is allowed are important because they are important representations of how we see our selves - in this respect at least the construction of the ‘terrorist’ is no different from the ‘poor’, the ‘homeless’. An identity politics perspective on ‘The War on Terrorism’, therefore, seeks to theorize iconic (as opposed to ‘lived’) Terrorism by basing it not only on the experiences of injustice associated with the identity of those excluded as ‘terrorists’, but on the insight Terrorism gives us into the performed identities of the ‘Just’.

Since the attack on the World Trade Centre, the expansion of a range of highly masculinized terms such as ‘terrorist sympathizers’ and ‘enablers’ has allowed the exclusionary terminology of an Unending War on Terrorism to encroach rapidly on hitherto acceptable forms of civic participation and public behaviour in at least nominally public and democratic spaces, physical and cyber. The immanent, not to say Manichaean properties of a voracious other, Terrorism, have been instrumentalized to urge the necessity for forms of sexualized, priapic behaviour deemed pre-9/11 to be unacceptable (extraordinary rendition (sexual abduction), torture (forced penetration)), raising a number of interesting questions about the public and the private, the acceptable and the unacceptable. As Said put it:

“Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex an interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.” (Said, 1993: 7)

The current forms of behaviour that are defined as Terrorism are geo-spatial behaviours sanctified in the past as an important part of the national mythology of at least some of the G8 countries and their geo-political allies, leaving one to ask: Is the ‘problem’ of Terrorism less that it is in some way deviant, but that it is mainstream behaviour carried out in deviant geo-political space? Does the deviant nature of this ‘other’ behaviour also intensify performances of sexualised masculinity which allow the private to subordinate the public? Is torture an act in which the deviant terrorist is forced into a submissive, feminized role and malestream liberal democracy can hold up a mirror in which to admire its masculinity?

With these and other interesting questions in mind, Guerilla Geographers will be seeking to invert the norm by performing waterboarding in a number of iconic public spaces in London on March 1st in Russell Sq at 1pm, thus (hopefully) challenging accepted public/private divides, asking the public to comment on and think about the ‘acceptable’ and pushing at the barriers of the legally acceptable versus the privately unaccountable.

NB For those who are unaware of what waterboarding involves, please watch the 10-minute video-clip at http://current.com/pods/controversy/PD04399 of someone being (voluntarily) waterboarded.

Contacts: Jon Cloke and Daniel Raven-Ellison,Co-administrators,
Guerilla Geography
guerrillageography@googlemail.com

LONDON 01.03.08

2008-02-09T20:02:00.000Z

SPACE EXPLORERS

Do you have any ideas to get people questioning their space(s)?

Taking place on the 1st of March the LONDON Guerrilla Geography event is all about getting people to think differently about space. For a moment in time we're to make walkers in London Space Explorers by making situations in which people are forced to think about their geographies in new ways.

This is an exciting move for Guerrilla Geography and one which we want to open up to all Geographers. As with the Birmingham event, we want to for the public into thinking geographically... as an individual moves through London they might be followed by a roaming (dud) CCTV camera on Oxford Street before being asked to map their naughty memories in Covent Garden. What they meet or are asked to do in other places... we don't know just yet and that is what we'd like to recruit geographers for.

If you have a creative idea for getting people to see their world(s) in new way(s) we'd love to hear from you and then if you wanted... come along on the day to take part in this important event that is pushing out the fringes of geography and making people realise that it is not 'boring'.

2008-01-26T09:57:00.000Z

Following on from Dan's post about changing Britain, I would like to recomend a little book that everyone should read. Random Acts of Kindness: 365 Ways to Make the World a Nicer Place, by Danny Wallace. We can all learn alot from this little read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Random-Acts-Kindness-World-Nicer/dp/0091901758/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1201341382&sr=8-3

We're going to change Britain! WANTED: 2 Million People

2008-01-20T20:15:00.000Z

Now launched on Facebook in an attempt to change the face of Britain..

"We the members of this group will defy British culture by smiling, saying hello and potentially sharing a wave with people we do not know in order to change Britain. In short, we're going to change Britain!"

In 2008 if you smile and say 'hello' to someone you don't know the chances are that they will think you're some kind of a crazy person after their bag or some larger part of their body. If your lucky you might get their foot in your mouth.

We, the people who live in Briton, are fed up of silent commuter trains and journeys where people do not speak to each other. We're tired of those places where if you look at someone you are at increased risk of GBH. We're bored of a smiles in the general direction of someone who thinks that they are attractive being misread/misled. Time enough we say for this Britain of darkness.

So let's reverse this reserved psychogeography of our nation(s)... for one day at least....

On the 1st of April 2008 shun unfriendly behaviour, become an activist of change and...

1. Smile at everyone you make eye contact with (if they smile back, say 'Hi' or if they are a long way from you give them a wave.

2. Ask 'how do you do?' to people you walk past or sit next to. If they reply, go mad and ask them how their day is going.

...no matter who they are or what they look like. Let's go crazy and show an interest in our fellow Britons!

If 2 million Britons take part in this campaign 1 in 30 people should smile at you or say 'How do you do?'... this will change the geography of Britain as we know it... even if it is just for one day.... so please ask friends and strangers to join in.

CLUSTER BOMBS CANCELLED & LONDON CCTV EVENT - NOW IN 2008

2007-10-15T18:57:00.000+01:00

The London CCTV Event that was planned for this Saturday (20.10.07) is being pushed back to Saturday 1st of March, 2008. Many people are interested - but seem to be a little busy that weekend.... so, March 2008 it is. See you then!

It is the same sort of a story for cluster bombs so this is now cancelled. This is a shame, but a tour of torture is on the cards and supporters are needed.

Geographer?

2007-09-23T14:27:00.000+01:00

If you're a Geographer then why not indulge in a little Guerrilla Geography?

A Global Presence?
At present people have visited this blog from over forty different countries on six continents. If people from all these countries were willing to take part in Guerrilla Geography activities we would be a real (grassroots) force to be reckoned with. For such a worldwide movement to work participation is crucial, so if you are reading this and want to join or mirror an event please do get in contact.

Your ideas...
No matter where you are in the world if you have a geographical idea, concept or issue that you think that the public would be interested in why not take it too them through direct (public education) action in the name of Guerrilla Geography? Email your thoughts to guerrillageography@gmail.com or pass comment on this post.

Guerrilla Geography: Day 3, Reading Cluster Bombs

2007-09-17T23:50:00.000+01:00

Cluster bombs are designed to control space and will be the focus of the third Guerrilla Geography day in support of Landmine Action and Handicap International's campaign to stop the weapons use.

Cluster Bombs and Landmines directly change the geography of lives across the world in a wide range of ways from preventing industries functioning effectively and the demographics of communities to the geographies of young people and hearding of livestock.

Key facts on cluster bombs according to Handicap International.

* 98% of recorded casualties are civilians.
* 27% of casualties are children.
* 67% casualties are killed or injured in course of earning their livelihood.
* 24 countries and regions are affected by cluster munitions worldwide.
* 5% to 30% of cluster bombs fail to explode on impact.
* 34 countries produce at least 210 different types of cluster bombs and 73 countries stockpile cluster bombs.
* The UK currently stockpiles and exports cluster bombs and used them during the war in Iraq.

Read more here:
http://www.landmineaction.org/support/email/
http://www.clusterbombs.org.uk/

For this event we will create a fake cluster bomb site to raise awareness of how these weapons change the geography of peoples lives and the role of the UK in this global industry. An opinion 'cluster map' will be created by supporters which will then be posted to David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Location: Reading, UK (or a mirror event where you are)
Time: 1pm
Date: 04/11/07

To join this event and find out more please email guerrillageography@gmail.com or post your thoughts here.

Guerrilla Geography: Day 2, London CCTV

2007-08-27T23:58:00.000+01:00

THIS EVENT IS NOW TAKING PLACE IN MARCH 2008

The next Guerrilla Geography event is going to be based on our fun in Birmingham. While the focus is on London this time, we want as many mirror events to take place across the world as possible. If you can't make it to London but want to be a part of this event, just set up your own Guerrilla Geography CCTV event. Mirror events in Sydney (Australia), Tallinn (Estonia) and Manchester (UK's north) are already on the cards.

If you are outside of the UK and want to join in contact us so that we can post your event on our Facebook page and this blog.

Here are the details of the London event so far:

After the success of the first Guerrilla Geography Day (focusing on CCTV in Birmingham and recieved attention from local TV and radio) we're now looking for geographers (University Students, Teachers, Academics, Professionals, Geography Lovers...) to getting people 'thinking geographically' across Central London with a focus on Oxford Street. This time we want the London and national media to sit up , think geographically and recognise the field as it should do.

Direct (public geographical education) Action

Time & Place: Saturday 20th October between 13:00 and 17:00 in Central London.

Aim: To challenge the public’s spatial awareness of “hidden” geographies.

Objective: For the public(s) to see the world differently.

Method: Invading (personal, social, commercial, security etc.) space dressed as on-foot ‘CCTV’. The cameras will be held by guerrilla geographers who will be wearing boiler suits with the words ‘Official Geographic CCTV Unit. Give Geography its Place.’ on them.

Kit you need: Empty CCTV housing (bigger the better with cable to go into backpack), White disposable boiler suit (as found at B&Q and Homebase), bright backpack (ideally red), dark shoes/trainers, adhesive letters to fix onto CCTV housing as on the website.

Kit supplied: GGTV ID Badge, Guerrilla Geography Stickers (London Event Only)

PRECISE LOGISTICS TO BE ANNOUCED

Geography is all about..........

2007-08-25T19:27:00.000+01:00

"Geography is all about countries, capital cities and flags." That quote is a comment that I hear on a regular basis from colleagues, family and parents. It saddens me to know that the majority of the population of our country still hold the belief that geography has not changed since the 1960's and 70's. It saddens me even more that people do not realise how much influence geography has on their day to day lives. That's why being a Guerrilla Geographer excites me, it gives us an opportunity to show people what modern geography is all about and how it does influence us all daily.

To me Guerrilla Geography Day 1 was not about campaigning against CCTV. In fact I'm in favour of CCTV, I'm pleased that there are three cameras that cover my car parking space at home! I believe that if you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear from CCTV. However, CCTV is an important Geographic issue.

Whilst out in Birmingham on Guerrilla Geography Day 1 alot of people posed the question "Why is CCTV anything to do with Geography?" To me, as a geographer, that answer is a simple one. Geography is a about space and place and CCTV controls space, affects how people feel in space and affects how people behave in space. For example I feel that my car is safer if parked in a space with CCTV and therefore, if given a choice, I will park in a place with CCTV coverage. Thats just one example of how CCTV affects how I feel and behave in different spaces!

Im now very much looking forward to Guerrilla Geography Day 2 and using the event to educate more people about what modern Geography is and how it is relevent to our day to day lives.

So....... calling all Geograpy Teachers, Students, Graduates and other Geographers join in with day 2 and maybe we can do something even more radical for day 3!

Why I became a guerrilla for the day!

2007-08-17T16:00:00.000+01:00

I think it is worth sharing exactly how I ended up in a boiler suit waving an empty CCTV camera around in the middle of Birmingham on Wednesday. While on the train to Birmingham I tried to distil exactly why I was quite happy to subject myself to a fair bit of public ridicule!

On a personal level I feel that the use of CCTV cameras in public space is unacceptably invasive. There is little substantiated evidence to say that they are effective at reducing crime in public spaces. The capacity of CCTV cameras to control space and subsequently how we use and interact with space should not be underestimated. From one spot, outside WH Smiths in New Street station we counted over thirty cameras and were constantly reminded via loud audio announcements that we were being filmed. Personally, that doesn’t make me feel any safer. I feel as though I, and everyone else, is being scrutinised, judged monitored and evaluated. People don’t usually like that.

As an educator I am becoming increasingly aware of the many and varied opportunities that currently exist for educators to ply their trade outside the classroom. I’m not bored with teaching, but the idea of getting out of school to engage the public with geographical concepts has big appeal. Guerrilla geography isn’t about providing people with answers, but is more about getting public to begin to think like critical geographers and ask questions about the place and space they occupy. I believe this can only be a good thing.

As a geographer, I am concerned that the public or popular perception of our subject could do with a bit of a shake up. I don’t have bad breath, a beard, or leather patches on a tweed jacket and am probably as bad as the next person in the “geography” round of a pub quiz. However after five years as a teacher I think I have listened to every conceivable stereotype of a geographer and always despair. As a result, I feel I have a professional responsibility to challenge people’s opinion of what I do each day.

The reaction of the public to our actions was unsurprisingly varied, although for me, the most interesting revelation was the difference in reaction between adults and youths. For instance, when you pose the question,

Is there a big difference between us following you down the street with our camera, compared to you being followed on a regular CCTV camera?

Understandably, both groups usually felt uneasy about being filmed by either method, but after brief reflection, almost all young people were prepared to accept that perhaps there is not a huge difference. They were then able to begin to make connections between CCTV cameras and their use of space. They could cite examples of where CCTV can dictate the use of space and would usually be keen to articulate how it makes them feel. By contrast, while many adults were quick to agree CCTV is invasive, many were reluctant to accept was no real difference between our action and the current use of CCTV in public space. Why? I’m not sure I can answer this question fully. Perhaps we become desensitised to the presence of CCTV in the landscape. I’m of the opinion that this is at best undesirable, at worst dangerous. Being filmed, monitored and surveyed over long periods of time is not healthy for communities or groups of people, an episode of big brother makes that point quite well!

Space is the ultimate geographical idea. It is where everything we are interested in is played out. An appreciation of the uses of, changes to and control of space lie at the heart of what geographers do. Taken from this perspective, it is not difficult to see that geography was at the heart of what we did in Birmingham. Even if the public would not initially label it as such, they certainly had to think like geographers, and wrestle with these ideas. In that sense I felt that we achieved what we set out to do. As always, I’m really looking forward to meeting up with even more geographers (or what ever else you call yourself) for round two!

Simon Renshaw

GGTV Birmingham

2007-08-16T22:52:00.000+01:00

Day 1 of direct (public education) action could not have gone much better...

Guerrilla Geography TV Day 1 Video (Preview)

Guerrilla Geographers on BBC West Midlands 6pm News 16.08.07

Guerrilla Geographers on BBC WM Radio at 7.40am 16.08.07

...but it could have been and so we are organising a massive Guerrilla Geography Day 2: LONDON - and we need you to join us in this massive public (direct action) event. Geography university students, academics, teachers, professionals...

Full report to follow....

Day One: Birmingham

2007-08-13T21:44:00.001+01:00

Direct (public education) Action

Aim: To challenge the public’s spatial awareness of “hidden” geographies.
Objective: For the public(s) to see the world differently.
Method: Invading (personal, social, commercial, security etc.) space dressed as on-foot ‘CCTV’. The cameras will be fitted to the guerrilla geographers who will be wearing boiler suits with the words ‘GGTV Geographer’ on them.

Rationale
a) the landscape

“Emotional landscapes, They puzzle me, Then the riddle gets solved, And you push me up to this.. State of emergency, How beautiful to be, State of emergency, Is where I want to be...” Joga, Bjork

We all have a different view of the world. Each of us have our own and diverse ways of using our unique senses to interpret the risks, emotions, possibilities, futures and experiences that places have to offer. How we see where we are is dependent on the experiences that we have had, how we have experimented and explored our environment - and so if the guerilla geographer (psycho-geographer) shapes an experience for a person, that person might forever change their view of themselves, their influences and their world.

“Place is security, space is freedom: we are attached to one and long for the other.” Yi-Fu Tuan, Geographer

The geographer Doreen Massey says that if time is the dimension of change, then space is the dimension of interconnection – of things happening all at once. It is the dimension that presents us with the existence of others – and poses the question of how we are to live together. CCTV is an interconnected network that collects ‘present’ spatial data in order to control how we live. As with a feature of any landscape, all people have different experiences of
CCTV. Like the hidden geology of the Earth, some people do not see it and even more do not think about the individuals, organisations and processes that work behind it. Others want CCTV, believing that it will make them safer, despite the patchy research on its effectiveness.

“Despite uncertainty about the true value of CCTV, the working group is convinced it is here to stay not least because of the virtually universal perception that it makes places safer.” Review of CCTV in Birmingham for the Birmingham City Council 2005

Skeptics fear Big Brother control of the streets.

“... evidence is building up that, through CCTV, people and behaviours seen not to ‘belong’ in the increasingly commercialised and privately managed consumption spaces of British cities tend to experience especially close scrutiny.” Steve Graham, Durham University

“Location is a powerful key for relating disparate databanks and unearthing information about possession, spending habits, and an assortment of behaviors and preferences, real or imagined.” Mark Monmonier, Spying with Maps

“Our physical bodies are being shadowed by an increasingly comprehensive ‘data body’. However, this shadow body does more than follow us. It also precedes us. Before we arrive somewhere, we have already been measured and classified. Thus, upon arrival, we're treated according to whatever criteria has been connected to the profile that represents us.” Felix Stalder, Privacy is not the antidote to surveillance, 2002

So CCTV and the institutions behind it have the power to change how we behave on our own and with each other. It interacts with government control, commercial power, crime, house prices, migration, insurance, poverty, terror, racism, litter, transport and ultimately the geography of our lives... where will I live? how should I get there? As guerrilla geographers we will be using the controversy and personal relationships that people have with these issues and the landscape to question of this technology.

b) the individual
As geographers we love scale. We love zooming in and out (Google Earth porn), just like CCTV does. We are visual people and looking at things turns us on, as it does many people. The thing is, there is cultural etiquette that is followed to make sure that we do not ‘take up’, ‘infiltrate’, ‘invade’, ‘push’ or ‘encroach’ on ‘personal’ or ‘private’ space. Most people would especially not do this to important or official people, people having an argument or kissing passionately... and certainly not in large numbers?

Well... this is what CCTV can and does do. Mass arrays of zooming CCTV remotely invade
our personal space...

c) And so....
What better way to stimulate discussions about hidden geographies (even if people do not call them ‘geography’), space, place, control, power, proximity... then to dress as walking CCTV cameras and invade some space(s)?