Author Description

Wherever people live closely together, there is competition and displacement. We practically take it for granted that many public places cannot be used equally by different groups of people. This assumption goes almost unnoticed, and is counter to the ideals of a democratic, open society with equal rights for all its members. How do people who exist at the margins of society (or see themselves as existing there) experience public urban spaces? Where do they feel welcome, and where do they feel unwanted? Where, how, and why do use conflicts arise? The project Die fragmentierte Stadt--the fragmented city--pursues answers to these questions. A collection of observations, walks, and encounters that took place over the course of three years in Berlin, Graz, and Zurich form the foundation of four artistic ethnographic approaches to experiences of exclusion and appropriation strategies. Photographic, audio-visual, performance, and verbal investigations led to the development of the ideas, insights, and products introduced by the texts, images, and videos in this volume. As an enriched e-book, the ePUB includes video works by Aya Domenig and Thomas Schärer.