"15 minutes settlement", Participatory research art project for interdisciplinary team

Nisrine Boukhari & Frida Robles, this project is part of "Un-titled" project research, Vienna 2014.

Through our paradox of a "15 minute settlement" we want to create a situation in the city. Is there a place for nomadic/wandering identities in contemporary cities? More and more,people are leaving the place where they were born and are residing in many different places throughout their lives.

There are no more fixed urban settlements (if there ever were) and cities are not any longer inhabited by its citizens. People for several reasons are forced to leave their places of origin (political, social and cultural conflicts, economic situations, among others). Other people decide to leave their places of origin. There are nomadic behaviors (state of living) and wandering behaviors (state of mind). The mind and the body are in movement. These movements affect the places where they are subscribed. This is the question we want to address; can we have 15 minute settlements? Can we develop strategies to include the people that have nomadic or wandering life styles? What does it mean for a city to have a 15 minute settlement? This instant settlement makes a statement in the city for all the people that don't have a space that they can call their own, but furthermore it raises the question about the necessity of identity. How are identities formed and more importantly, do they need to be connected to a space? How can a city handle contradicting identities?

Encountering the people in the city through our 15 minutes settlement asking them and collecting their own opinions made this project possible as an ordinary performance in a public space involving walkers of the city in a social artistic matters.