Da Da and Projects wants to start a national conversation.
That conversation will include discussion not only about how space is used, but the beauty, functionality and relevance of that space or place to the people occupying it and their environment.
Developing Art and Design Awareness and Projects (Da Da) was established in 2011.
The NGO's 2023 symposium and exhibition examined, over three days, Social Art and Design: Public Space and Community Transformation. It ran from November 16-18 and was done collaboratively with the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.
It explored ideas and topics such as: democratising and enhancing public space in TT; Carnivals/festivals in public spaces; and planning, art and design and the quality of public space. The symposium was free to the public.
Its opening night at Central Bank Auditorium, Independence Square, Port of Spain, began with Central Bank’s governor Dr Alvin Hilaire talking about what it was like growing up on Duncan Street, Port of Spain, and the changes from then to now.
Hilaire said it was a fact that people affect their environment and the environment affects people.
“The most dramatic representation of this is climate change, where, depending on how we consume, how we travel, how we do our daily business and what we indulge in, we can be creating hazards for our planet.”
This was already being seen with rising sea levels and temperature changes.
He paraphrased a quote from a speech by late British prime minister Winston Churchill: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”
[caption id="attachment_1046155" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Former minister of planning and UWI Principal Dr Bhoe Tewarie, left, Central Bank Governor Dr Alvin Hilaire, centre, are in discussion as artist Guy Beckles, right, looks on. They were among the guests at the opening of Da Da and Projects 2023 symposium and exhibition titled Social Art and Design: Public Space and Community Transformation. -[/caption]
Hilaire said, “In other words, depending on where we are, it affects us…How we are in our environment, the space is laid out – whether you have big sidewalks, small sidewalks, play spaces and so forth…it affects you.
“It affects you physically because you can have problems of congestion. The covid19 pandemic was a big representation of that. Your mental health can be affected, stress levels, your sense of community, even your economic prospects depending on where you are, you may not be able to perform as well, you may have a stigma attached to it.”
Recalling what it was like growing up in Duncan Street, Port of Spain, Hilaire said it was a wonderful place, with architecture that was more colonial: there was the “plannings,” and recalled a resident planting trees.
“Those trees grew up to be so wonderful and a place for us all to enjoy. It was part of our life and our atmosphere. Over time what has happened. As we know things have changed, we have the pressures of modern life, congestion, noise pollution, other pollutions, car-dependent societies
