ABSTRACT
People living in urban settings encounter a certain complexity and diversity in their everyday lives. When they open the door in the morning and step outside, the street is in front of them and there is constant movement. They share the street with a diversity of people, and this encounter could be a source for learning about and with diversity. Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art situated in Helsinki, organized an exhibition called “Fluid Street,” in which the participants explored urban life and evolution through contemporary art and texts (Jaukkuri & Vanhala, 2008). One of the artists, Vesa-Pekka Rannikko (2008, p. 139), describes the overall theme of the exhibition in his own work:
For me, the street is an opportunity for change and encounter, a kind of laboratory of processes where defined and planned actions are juxtaposed with random, undetermined actions. Encounters like that give rise to combinations and meanings that cannot be created intentionally. Such activity is inherent to streets, a kind of urban evolution … What interests me about the street is also its transitory and evolving nature. People, traffic, spatial structures, together these create a criss-crossing, layered web of time where things come together and something new can emerge.
