A d d C o l o r s a t To f t e g å r d s P l a d s

A d d C o l o r s h a v e j u s t h a d i t s f i r s t e v e n t s u m m e r 2 0 0 9 T o f t e g å r d s P l a d s , Va l b y , C o p e n h a g e n

Why Toftegårds Plads?Taken as a whole, Toftegårds Plads is much larger than City Hall Square in the city centre and thus one of the largest squares in Copenhagen. It is intersected by Vigerslev Allé, which is very wide at the crossroads. Because of its size, the predominant traffic and the varying height of surrounding buildings, Toftegårds Plads was not perceived as a single coherent square.

The more peaceful Toftegårds Plads Nord was clearly defined by connected five-storey buildings with attractive facades and shops on ground floor level. Toftegårds Plads Syd, on the other hand, was more indistinct because of its size and the different proportions and facades of surrounding buildings. Moreover, it is evident that it used to be a bus terminal. What was left is a noman’s-land of urban space.

In other words the square was just an empty whole, undeveloped with little life and a huge area, that wasn’t used for anything in particular, its potential not being used for anything. Still people hanged around, wanted to be stimulated or just waiting for better times. After having dialogues with the citizens they seemed to express a clear wish for various eateries (restaurant with outdoor terrace or small food pavilions) and/or cultural facilities making Add Colors the perfect representative for combining the two wishes.

The intention was to convert Toftegårds Plads into an active public square.

H i s t o r y o u t l i n e f o r l o c a t i o n The scare was created in 1905 is surrounded by five-storey blocks of redbrick buildings erected in 1918-30, with shops on ground floor levels and housing units on the other levels.

This city district has fewer green areas than Copenhagen as a whole and in 1999, the square ceased to function as a bus traffic hub and since then it has by and large been un-used, serving no specific purpose. This is why the domi-nant activity is through traffic, parked cars and lorries with learner drivers waiting for their turn to take a driving test.

Toftegårds Plads Nord has rows of benches at the trimmed trees. Many people enjoy sitting here when the sun is out, even in the wintertime. The northern part of the square is also used on market days and for a number of special events. The square is an asphalt-covered area for bicycling, ball games an other social activities Culture wise has art galler-ies have begun to emerge in the former industrial buildings and Valby Culture Centre is a popular place to hang out on.

P r o d u c t i o n P h a s e Artistic decorations were to be an integral element in the design of the square. The art reflected the square’s function as a landmark, a gateway to the city, a traffic hub or a multicultural gathering place.

During the first week of research the artists went out together with social anthropologist trying to answer local questions and challenges. They had workshops and dialogues with the citizens, and found out that the citizens thought that the artistic decoration should be an active element in the overall design at the square and that artistic decoration didn’t necessarily mean a sculpture or a fountain: it could also be various ’hot spots’ in the urban space, which provides the square with a strong, unique identity. The artists were letting the answers reflect the art that they were creating, also inviting the citizens inside the pavilion to create art together.

Alongside Add Colors event a Valby Story Masch Up, an urban game, were running in order to activate and interact with the citizens. Approximately 250 citi-zens of the nearby community moved around Valby and Toftegårds Plads, taking photos, which matched a given target. Targets were words from stories, written by other citizens and participants on the Add Colors web site collabora-tively while the game goes on. The resulting illustrated stories were shown on large public signs in the square in real-time and on the web site.

The Add Colors pavilion also have a café, were people could come and eat at interact with each other. Food and eating is something natural, to share and do to-gether. People like to meet for food. Pic-nic baskets was also organized so the citizens could sit whatever they wanted outside the pavilion, around Toftegårds Plads.

E x h i b i t i o n P h a s e The three month exhibition was lead by an urban curator. This what it looked like when Add Colors transformed public space into works of art.

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E v a l u a t i o nWhen the event was completed the results were collected, evaluated and later published as a book. When the exhibition was terminated the art works were saved for a huge exhibition where all art works from different cities, places and countries will be shown together. Citizens have had the pos-sibility to record video with their mobile phones during the event and upload it to Add Colors web-site where we been screening live during the event. The film clip were now put together as a movie and shown at the Can festival.