Opening Space
A film by Taran Khan
Running Time: Approx 16 mins
The film ‘Opening Space’ is an encounter with an experiment. Part document, part reflection, it draws from the experience of the Open Space Seminar Series which was held across various campuses of Delhi University in the run up to WSF 2004 (Mumbai). Using footage filmed at and around two key sessions of the Series (Caste and Race/Gender and Sexuality) the film examines the manner in which the coming of the Forum to India influenced the vocabulary and strategy of movements connected in varying degrees to the global arena. Through interviews with various stakeholders brought together by this Series - academicians, activists, NGO representatives and students - the film attempts to provide a view of the of the WSF in the “real world” - how it is thought about, talked about and acted out in locations outside the dateline of its brief existence as ‘Event’. The focus is thus on the Forum as Process - on examining how ideas acquire a momentum of their own, how they are played out in diverse arenas and are renegotiated and reinvented by actors in their search for relevance.
It is also an attempt to feed into this process, to contribute to reflections on the notion of open space. Specifically, it throws up questions linked to the trajectory of the WSF - procedural as well as attitudinal. The discussions that flowed at the Seminar sessions are used to unfold some of the debates surrounding this process. The film explores the Series as an alternative form of mobilisation - an (attempted) open and participatory conversation and the impact it had on various constituencies.
At one level, the film is thus a tentative map, a reference point for future interventions in this area. At another, it is an entry point for reflexive engagement with and critical comment on the WSF. In essence, the video seeks to spark conversations, to find resonance in experiences and contexts outside its own and to connect to other experiments in opening space.
