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Moothram/Urine (Street play/social experiment)

It is always our aim to engage in meaningful dialogue with people around us. Urine is an inevitable part of our urban landscape. Moothram/Urine, was a social experiment to understand Urine as a cultural phenomena in our urban landscape. The performance was structured in two parts: 1. An introductory role play that tried to instigate the audience to question our perceptions of urine, urination and urinals. Many people from different walks of life shared their experiences and their ideas of what we lack, who we are and why we do what we do. 2. The prop (A yellow urinal) that was used in the role play, was left in the street to understand how people relate with it. The natural familiarity with the object could gather meanings, from being a mere object to a functional space to an artistic exploration. We leave it to the public to reflect on the object. To begin with, we have installed this on Manaveeyam Road. Although Manaveeyam Road is an important cultural corridor in Trivandrum, there is a specific spot in this street where men urinate. Moreover, being a space that attracts crowd during several events that are held, this space lacks a urinal, which is a basic necessity for humans to attend nature’s call. We hope to travel with this performance and continue our social experiment in some of the ‘important’ derelict spaces in the city. We hope these small attempts of dialogue can bring about a shift in our 'urine culture'.
Title: Moothram/ Urine
5 pm to 7 pm, 17 November 2017
Manaveeyam Veedhi, Trivandrum
6pm to 7 30 pm, 19 November 2017
Poojappura ground, Trivandrum
Performed by: Dr. Soumini Raja, ,Ar. Gautham Padmanabhan, Ar. Akshaisankar, Ar. Visakh Sashidharan, Ar. Sheen George and people who were present at the spot
Props: Ar. Vishnu K, Dhanesh Kumar
Graphics: Ar. Akshaisankar
Our sincere thanks to : Sam George, our friend and theatre artist for his invaluable support, Dinu, Sruthy, Asok, Anandhu, Geeth and members of Manaveeyam Veedhi. Ar. Ganga Dileep, Ar. Geethanjali and Recyclebin for giving us an opportunity to present it on World Toilet day.









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