CRISIS IN PUBLIC SPACE
From a gender, queer and migration perspective
The crisis of the current COVID-19 pandemic has altered the role of public space in the city. The ongoing state of exception has changed how we use and perceive public space as well as its surveillance. It has changed the relation between private and public spaces and has highlighted questions of access to public space as even more important, today. For this seminar, we will take these observations as a starting point to revisit the notion of public space from the perspective of our current crisis – as it is a fundamental term to thinking about the city as well as to planning practices.
What is allowed in public Space - Ottakringer Straße EM 2008, ©Raimund Appel, Vienna
In the light of the Covid-crisis, we want to take UNESCO’s notion of public space as starting point of our discussions, which “refers to an area or place that is open and accessible to all peoples, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level”[1]. It begs the question of WHO is allowed to do WHAT and WHO does WHAT in public space? To develop tools for understanding the complexities and contradictions involved, we will reflect on public space from an intersectional gender, queer and migration perspective. We will work with texts from queer and gender and migration studies, art history, as well as planning theories dealing with questions of public space. In weekly Zoom meetings, we will discuss issues like “the right to the city”, gentrification, sex in public, public toilettes, demonstrations, racial profiling and art in public space. Our primary site to investigate these questions will be the city of Vienna and we will organize several excursions to public spaces in the city.
We offer this seminar in English, but it can also be held in German if all students agree. In any case, students should have sufficient skills to read and reflect texts written in English and German. The seminar is based on reading and discussing texts together in our meetings as well as on individual and group research.
[1] “Inclusion Through Access to Public Space,” Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO, accessed February 13, 2021, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/urban-development/migrants-inclusion-in-cities/good-practices/inclusion-through-access-to-public-space/.
Changes of the course due to the Corona pandemic (March 18, 2020)
Since March 11, attandance teaching at the TU premises has been suspended. Until further notice, the seminar "Kunst und Gestaltung 2" will be taught through distance learning. We will inform the participants of the seminar about the tasks and exercices for the up-coming session via e-mail and TISS-messages. We will work increasingly with online-platforms such as TUWEL. Please make sure you are familiar with TUWEL. You will be asked to submit tasks on the dates of the seminars.
Room:
Seminarraum AC044
Karlsplatz 13, Stiege 4, 4. OG
Meetings: Fridays, 10am-12pm
12 March (Introduction), 10-12
19 March, 10-12
26 March, 10-12
9 April, 10-1
16 April, 10-12
23 April, 10-12
30 April, 10-1
7 May, 10-12
21 May, 10-12
28 May, 10-1
11 June, 10-12
18 June, 10-12
25 June, 10-1
Please consider the plagiarism guidelines of TU Wien when writing your seminar paper:
Directive concerning the handling of plagiarism (PDF)
Each seminar requires reading text in advance. Texts will be provided at least one weak before the text discussion (uploaded in TISS).
Main course literature
COVID AND PUBLIC SPACE
Harvey, David. “The Right to the City.” The New Left Review 53 (September/October 2008): 23-40. https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii53/articles/david-harvey-the-right-to-the-city.
Knierbein, Sabine. “Das Öffentliche Leben und was es mit der Demokratie zu tun hat,” pod cast by Radio Helsinki, Juni 19, 2020, https://cba.fro.at/457466?fbclid=IwAR0_nFmnJf7paLRqbshnKfgvSx-nUyyGxbteR5iqgvavyPNwnwVtLv_6pR0.
Hou, Jeff. “Social Disparities Beyond Social Distancing,” website Jeff Hou, accessed February 13, 2021, https://houjeff.medium.com/social-disparities-beyond-social-distancing-cae536a9b9fb.
QUEER PERSPECTIVE ON PUBLIC SPACE
Berlant, Laurent and Michael Warner. ”Sex in der Öffentlichkeit.“ In Outside. Die Politik queerer Räume, edited by Matthias Haase, Marc Siegel, Michaela Wünsch, 78-103. Berlin: b_books Verlag, 2005.
Delany, Samuel. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. New York: New York University Press, 2001. (excerpts)
Bonnevier, Katarina. Behind Straight Curtains: Towards A Queer Feminist Theory Of Architecture. Stockholm: Axl Books, 2007. (chapter 1)
ART, GENDER AND PUBLIC SPACE
Deutsche, Rosalyn. Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002. (chapter “Men in Space”)
Jacobs, Jane. The death and life of great American cities. New York: Random House, 1961. (excerpts)
Torre, Susana, “Claiming the Public Space: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.” In Gender space architecture, edited by Jane Rendell, Barbara Penner and Iain Borden, x-x. London: Routledge, 2000.
Schuster, Julia. “A lesson from ‘Cologne’ on intersectionality: strengthening feminist arguments against right-wing co-option”. Feminist Theory 21, no.1 (2021): 23-42.
MIGRATION AND PUBLIC SPACE
Çağlar, Ayse. “Still ‘migrants’ after all those years: foundational mobilities, temporal frames and emplacement of migrants.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42, no.6 (2016): 952-969. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2015.1126085
Hill, Marc. „Eine Vision von Vielfalt: Das Stadtleben aus postmigrantische Perspektive.“ In Postmigrantische Visionen. Erfahrungen – Ideen – Reflexionen, edited by Marc Hill and Erol Yildiz, 97-120. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2018.
