The aim of this publication project is to share the insights and experiences of the SNSF project Urban Wasteland as Ambiguous Spaces for Appropriation and Participation (February 24 - February 25) in the form of the digital and analogue artistic manual Foot Baths for All.
In collaboration with Mayumi Arai, Julia Weber translated ethnographically acquired knowledge on urban wastelands, such as care, self-organisation, gift economies, informal infrastructure, and the shared use of water and electricity into the artistic intervention Foot Baths for All, in order to explore new forms of appropriation and participation in urban life in densified public spaces. The intervention was tested over ten days in different locations in Zurich, such as Europaallee, Piazza Cella and Lochergut.
Based on these experiences and insights, the manual Foot Baths for All will be developed, which is intended to be both a practical guide and a source of reflection on shaping the city from below. The manual will be distributed digitally through the Research Catalogue - the international base for artistic research. In poster format, the manual will be disseminated internationally to relevant stakeholders within and outside the art field, including bookshops in art museums, independent art spaces, artist-activist networks, NGOs, urban development and planning organizations, and community centres.
The analogue and digital publication of the manual aims to inspire stakeholders, communities and a wider audience in Zurich and beyond, to promote artistic activist principles of bottom-up shaping of public spaces using the example of Foot Baths of All, and to build a network dedicated to reimagining urban spaces as inclusive and democratic environments. The diverse distribution strategy ensures that the manual reaches a broad and engaged audience and fosters connections across sectors.
Project partner: Mayumi Arai, artist, researcher, DKM, ZHdK. Member of the artistic research group “Liquid Stays”, IfCAR, DFA, ZHdK
Place and dates: April - November 25
Weblink: https://www.zhdk.ch/forschungsprojekt/urban-wastelands-as-ambiguous-spaces-for-appropriation-and-participation-600315