The City is our Factory, by Christoph Schäfer, Leipzig 2010, 306 pages, 28 €, ISBN: 978-3-940064-95-0, Spector Books The City is Our Factory is a visual essay in 158 drawings. In six chapters, the artist Christoph Schäfer develops a rhizomatic history of the urban space: From primordial mud to the “Right to the City” movement […]
Utopian Pulse – Flares in the Darkroom: Salon Public Happiness Ausstellung: 10. – 16. September 2014 Wiener Secession 20. Juni – 16. August 2015 Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart Videoccupy (Istanbul), und Esso Häuser – Filmteam (Irene Bude, Steffen Jörg and Olaf Sobczak), Esso Häuser Nachruf von Megafonchor (Sylvi Kretzschmar, Video by Svenja Baumgardt), Der Investor (Die […]
Can you imagine another country, where people eat together as a form of protest? The Lady next to me smiles while we indulge in shared food in a public Iftar in Yeniköy Park. More than three hundred people have gathered, an hour away from Istanbul centre by metro and minibus. More than half of the […]
Technically speaking, this is a lousy video. But a fantastic talk, and an easy introduction to “The City is Our Factory”.
Embedded artists vs. interventionist residents It was in the early nineties that I discussed the term “interventionist” for the first time. Curator Sabine B. Vogel had used the term to describe the work of artists she had invited to a group show in the Vienna Secession, Oppositionen & Schwesternfelder. Dan Peterman, Joe Scanlan and the […]
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/4174-christoph-schaefer-factory-city September 28, 2009. The City is our Factory: Politics of desire and the production of urban spaces between Grande Latte and Park Fiction. In the new urban fabric, subcultures, cultural workers, musicians and artists play a significant role as producers of collective spaces, places shaped by desires; as inventors of new perspectives and […]
first published in: Fight Specific Isola – Art, Activism and the Future of the City * Abbellimento Strategico – Strategic Embellishment The dream city, as it should be for a dream city, is located on an island; separated from the centre by a train station, in the shadow of a postmodern tower building, outdated already […]
Kunst, Partizipation und die ewigen Werte der Bourgeoisie von Christoph Schäfer „We don’t just want a piece of cake – we want the whole fucking bakery“ schmückt – handgeschrieben – die Tür der Schultoilette: Wer in den 1970er Jahren im Ruhrgebiet oder in irgendeinem anderen Teil der westlichen Welt aufwächst, kommt an diesem Slogan nicht […]
Eigentlich will die Kunst Berge versetzen, die Welt nicht nur interpretieren, sondern vom Kopf auf die Füße stellen und Scheiße in Gold verwandeln. Das gelingt manchmal, in revolutionären Momenten. Doch die sind selten und meist schnell vorbei – und schon heißt „Nähe zur Wirklichkeit“ wieder „Unterwerfung unter deren Zumutungen“, Reformismus, Anpassung, Kompromiß, Verrat. In wesentlichen […]