The Blank Noise Project
Encyclopedia
Blank Noise is a community-public art project that seeks to confront street harassment, commonly known as eve teasing
, in India
. The project, initiated by Jasmeen Patheja in August 2003, started out as a student project at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore
and has since spread out to other cities in India.
It addresses women's fear based relationship with their cities via direct street actions and public interventions that ask women to be 'Action Heroes' by being 'idle' in public. 50 % of Blank Noise has male members who are celebrated as Blank Noise Guys. Blank Noise works towards an attitudinal shift towards 'eve-teasing' and involves the public to take collective responsibility of the issue.
Though Blank Noise was founded in Bangalore, it has spread to other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Lucknow etc.
It tackles notion of shame and blame through campaigns such as "I NEVER ASK FOR IT" (ask to be sexually harassed) when on the streets. A major notion that it seeks to dispel is that women get harassed because of the clothing they wear. Through street actions and dialogue, Blank Noise hopes to achieve its aims of achieving a safe and free environment for women on the streets, and enable society to become more egalitarian towards women in general.
The project has undertaken actions (called interventions) such as spray painting
messages recording the testimonies of victims of sexual harassment
in public places, and printing T-shirts with anti-harassment messages on them. It has also staged demonstrations, sticking posters on the walls and writing slogans on the pavements.
Eve teasing
Eve teasing is a euphemism used in India and sometimes Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal for public sexual harassment or molestation of women by men, with use of the word "Eve" being a reference to the biblical Eve....
, in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The project, initiated by Jasmeen Patheja in August 2003, started out as a student project at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
and has since spread out to other cities in India.
Activities
Blank Noise is completely volunteer led and run. A core team team of volunteers both male and female work, from across geographies and age groups work with the collective. Blank Noise seeks strategies to trigger public dialogue on the issue. Conversations range from collectively building a definition of 'eve-teasing' while also discussing boundaries of 'teasing', 'harassment' , 'flirting'. The collective builds testimonials of street sexual violence/ harassment 'eve-teasing' and disperses them back in public thereby creating public debate.It addresses women's fear based relationship with their cities via direct street actions and public interventions that ask women to be 'Action Heroes' by being 'idle' in public. 50 % of Blank Noise has male members who are celebrated as Blank Noise Guys. Blank Noise works towards an attitudinal shift towards 'eve-teasing' and involves the public to take collective responsibility of the issue.
Though Blank Noise was founded in Bangalore, it has spread to other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Lucknow etc.
It tackles notion of shame and blame through campaigns such as "I NEVER ASK FOR IT" (ask to be sexually harassed) when on the streets. A major notion that it seeks to dispel is that women get harassed because of the clothing they wear. Through street actions and dialogue, Blank Noise hopes to achieve its aims of achieving a safe and free environment for women on the streets, and enable society to become more egalitarian towards women in general.
The project has undertaken actions (called interventions) such as spray painting
Spray painting
Spray painting is a painting technique where a device sprays a coating through the air onto a surface. The most common types employ compressed gas—usually air—to atomize and direct the paint particles. Spray guns evolved from airbrushes, and the two are usually distinguished by their size and the...
messages recording the testimonies of victims of sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
in public places, and printing T-shirts with anti-harassment messages on them. It has also staged demonstrations, sticking posters on the walls and writing slogans on the pavements.