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short description
Self/Images project III. Utopien&Visionen (Utopias&Visions) The projects topic: Utopias&Visions resulted from the subject of the exhibition: Museutopia at the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum in Hagen. The exhibition generally focused on utopian ideas and reviewed the artists capacity to formulate visions. The aim of my project in that context was to bring up for discussion the local and individual utopias and visions of the persons who live at the place in Hagen. I was concerned to reflect their ideas figuratively and to place them within their utopian landscapes. I also placed the city Hagen under my critical observation. An investigation at the place in search for the relevant topics of the region formed the prelude of the project. A photographic stocktaking took place, discussions of all kinds were led. The stocktaking lays thereby no claim on completeness, but follows the principle of the individual and the contingents of investigation. The discussion partners resulted from coincidence or from personal recommendations, the photographies and images of the town developed in the course of necessary distances I had to cover. At the same time however my research was not completely contingent. I was interested in those milieus which do not represent the cultural or political elite locally. Accordingly the investigations focused mainly on those facilities in Hagen that deal with social or (sub-)cultural affairs. Furthermore I was trying to find out something about the private peculiarities of the citizens. The project differentiated itself into three topics with different weight. Rather at the edge of my project stood the occupation with the utopia of having a home of one's own. This idea seems to be more than important for Hagener citizens. The town planning office was available here as a partner for information about planning concepts and gave away citymaps emphasizing on fallow spots ready to develop. Private opinions of owners of house were caught up. A poster was developed. In the center of the project I developed a very direct co-operation with a group of alone-educating mothers. These women were dependent on social welfare assistance and gathered in a program to qualify themselves for the first job market. The relevant topic here was work and the utopian dimension of a work-free society. Such ideas were discussed within the prozess if co-operation we went through and filtered by individual self-manifestation, personal experience and private opinion of these women. Idealized photo portraits, texts on utopian living concepts and a video resulted from this co-operation. Finally the city of Hagen and the town planning came into focus as a third topic. Hagen seems to be entangled between structure crisis and consumer vision, identity crisis and urban redevelopment. The InterNet forum I developed shall offer a communication platform for the Hagener citizens to discuss the towns future and to enrich the existing argument on city planning with privat utopian conceptions. All documents, pictures, materials, maps and plans, which I collected and produced in the course of the project are gathered in an archives cabinet, which is paced in the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum. This cabinet shall give visitors an insight into the projects development and encourage them to do research themselves. Anke Haarmann july 2002 |