The Blank Noise Project

The Blank Noise Project is a community-public art project that seeks to confront street harassment, commonly known as eve teasing, in India. The project, created 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. The project works with the victims, the perpetrators and spectators of street sexual harassment and hopes to bring a change in the public perception of eve teasing, which is still largely considered a minor problem.

Though Blank Noise was founded in Bangalore, it has spread to other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta, Chandigarh etc.

Blank Noise is a participatory project that aims to change attitudes and perceptions about women, especially on the streets. It tries to convince perpetrators and spectators alike that women do not "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.