A Montage of Small Movements

For their first artist in residence REFORMERart specially invited Petra Johnson(UK/GER) whose work focuses on social space and pedestrian movement, both public and individual.

Using REFORMERart in Hunan Road sub-district, Shanghai as the starting point, Petra chose to investigate a 20-minute walking radius in order to discover moments, objects and infrastructures of kindness in the locality. Throughout October Petra and local residents have been observing this unconsidered, marginal, ignored and yet very important component of the social landscape during one to one walks. The reflections shared on these walks inform the mapping project ‘Composing the Ordinary’. All observations as well as their locations are re-configured and presented during the exhibition – A Montage of Small Movements. By adopting this very modest and low-key approach, the project explores how art can simulate as well as mirror social space and how social space can inform art, which is also the objective of REFORMERart.