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    The Fragmented City: Processes and Strategies of Exclusion and their Effects on Public Spaces

    Prozesse und Strategien der Exklusion und ihre Wirkungen auf die öffentlichen Räume

    Institute for Contemporary Art Research (IFCAR)

    Exclusion and displacement are closely entwined with entrepreneurial urban policy and are often consciously used as strategies to transform the city in terms of globally oriented ideals and economic interests. These alter both the physical qualities of public spaces and the social interactions among city dwellers. More and more people are affected by these complex processes, but only rarely do they have a say themselves. “The Fragmented City” therefore focuses on the perspectives and subjective experiences of the excluded.

    In “The Future of our Cities,” a documentary broadcast on ARTE in 2013, urban planner Jan Gehl called for access to public spaces as a basic human right. In the neoliberal or entrepreneurial city, however, access is threatened by privatisation, gentrification and commodification, as well as by increasing regulation, exclusion and displacement. The homeless, street drinkers, migrants and other undesirables are increasingly being driven out of public spaces. While many city planners and sociologists are demanding greater heterogeneity and diversity in order to keep the city “alive,” city administrations often work in exactly the opposite direction. Increased cooperation between cities, private investors and globally active companies has led to the loss of what makes a vibrant city: free and open interaction between people from different classes and cultures. The core of every “Open City” is its public and potentially accessible spaces.

    Situated in selected public spaces in Berlin, Graz and Zurich, the project aims to render visible the widest possible range of exclusion processes. Its key questions are: Where do exclusion processes take place and of what kind are they? Whom do such processes affect and how are they experienced? How do they become evident, i.e. how do they affect public spaces? These questions are addressed from two perspectives: that of the excluded and that of those responsible for the city (urban planners, politicians, district managers, etc.).

    Three methodological approaches are applied in three different media. First, video walks through public spaces, with excluded people acting as guides, reveal subjective perspectives on exclusion and repression, which will be supplemented and contrasted with the “official” view of architects, politicians or social workers. Second, a photographic documentation, which depicts in artistic form the changes in the sensually perceptible atmospheres of public spaces resulting from the visibility of the “uninvolved” (Ranciere). A third approach focuses on participatory and performative aspects. One thematic focus in this respect is “loitering.”

    The project is situated within a transdisciplinary field spanning scientific and artistic practices and thus makes an important contribution to artistic urban research. Finding and results will be presented at an exhibition as well as in an e-book and, if applicable, also in the form of a street newspaper.

    Details

    • Research Focus
      • FSP Kunst, Urbanität und Öffentlichkeit
      • üFSP Public City
    • Project Lead
      • Jürgen Krusche (IFCAR)
    • Team
      • Aya Domenig (IFCAR)
      • Mirjam Gautschi (IFCAR)
      • Thomas Schärer (IFCAR)
      • Julia Weber (IFCAR)
    • Cooperations
      • Christoph Schenker, IFCAR
      • Giaco Schiesser, IFCAR
      • Kunstuniversität Linz
      • Sigmar Gude, Topos Stadtplanung Landschaftsplanung Stadtforschung
      • Johanna Rolshoven, Universität Graz, Institut für Volkskunde und Kulturanthropologie
    • Duration

      01.03.2017 – 30.04.2021

    • Financing
      • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds SNF (01.03.2017 – 30.04.2021)
    • Research Approaches
      • Basic research
      • Artistic-scientific research
    • Disciplines

      Fine Arts, Transdisciplinary

    • Keywords

      Artistic Research

    Output

    • Aufsätze in Sammelbänden, Ausstellungskatalogen, Buchbeiträge

      Schärer, Thomas (2021): «Currybernd macht die Klappe zu, für immer. Die letzte Currywurstbude an der Kurfürstenstrasse». In: Schärer, Thomas / Krusche, Jürgen, Dominik, Aya & Weber, Julia (Hg.): Die fragmentierte Stadt. Schriftenreihe des Institute for Contemporary Art Research, ZHdK, 25. Berlin: Jovis, 192–205. Online unter: https://doi.org/10.1515/978868599800.

    • Aufsätze in Sammelbänden, Ausstellungskatalogen, Buchbeiträge

      Schärer, Thomas (2021): «Exklusion und Teilhabe im öffentlichen Raum». In: Domenig, Aya / Jürgen Krusche / Schärer, Thomas & Weber, Julia (Hg.): Die fragmentierte Stadt. Schriftenreihe des Institute for Contemporary Art Research, ZHdK, 25. Berlin: Jovis, 33–71. Online unter: https://doi.org/10.1515/978868599800.

    • Herausgeberschaft

      Schenker, Christoph (Hg.) (2022): Inventory and Hinge. Entangled Fields of Research in the Arts. Institute for Contemporary Art Research 2001-2022. Institute for Contemporary Art Research series, 29. Zürich: Diaphanes. Online unter: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7524372.

    • Vorträge, Referate

      Schärer, Thomas (2018): «Die fragmentierte Stadt: Ausschluss- und Aneignungserfahrungen». Tagung “Frieden und Demokratie auf der Strasse”. 29.06.2018–30.06.2018. Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz. Online unter: https://comradeconrade.mur.at/tagung/.

    • Wissensvermittlung an ein nicht-akademisches Publikum

      Krusche, Jürgen / Schärer, Thomas / Weber, Julia & Domenig, Aya (2019): «Curry-Bernd ist wieder da!». Outdoor-Ausstellung, Screening und Diskussion. 23.10.2019–23.10.2019. Getränke Hoffmann, Berlin.