PLANNING\nUNPLANNED
\n_Towards a New Positioning of Art in the Context of Urban Development
\n2010-2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the mid-1990s, many cities\nand regions in Europe (above all in Great Britain and Germany) have been\nstrongly affected by the structural changes in the post-industrial situation\n(shrinking of cities, regeneration of former industrial regions). At the same\ntime large-scale new urban developments (like in the Netherlands) continued to\nbe constructed \u2013 both situations asking new questions how to deal with a\nshifted identity of a place\/ a situation, or, in the latter case, how to create\nan identity of a place. Thus architects and urban planners found themselves\nconfronted with new topics that the conventional method of the masterplan could\nno longer address \u2013 especially since being orientated towards long-term\nobjectives and perspectives, which are difficult to predict in times of not\nonly economic uncertainty. Along with architects and urbanists, it is\nincreasingly artists who took a special interest in urban issues, and the new\nquestions and challenges involved, like creating an identity, urbanity, and\npublic-urban space, altogether building a community. Despite great ambitions,\nthese urban artistic practices have hardly had the desired effects on urban\nspace and its users, in terms of a durational \u201cpositively\u201d recognized influence\non urban development, since generally, artists are mostly activated to \u201csolve\u201d\nsocial or spatial problems in a short term project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
PLANNING UNPLANNED is an\narts-based research project which seeks to investigate possibilities how to\nemancipate and integrate artistic-urbanistic practices as \u201eequal urban players\u201c\nin the urban planning process. What is the \u201cfunction\u201d of art in the context of\nurban development processes? Could the involvement of these practices on a\ndurational level lead to a new role, the role of the \u201enew urban practitioner\u201c?
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\nPLANNING UNPLANNED uses the special chance to test the research questions (for\nexample, how to define \u201csuccess\u201d or \u201cfailure\u201d of urban processes) on site in\nthe future Vienna \u201cAspern-Lake City,\u201d the largest and most ambitious urban\ndevelopment project in Vienna in the next decades, using the concept of\n\u201cresearch through practice.\u201d Through a partner agreement with Aspern Development\nAG, the installation of a 1:1 test site in Vienna-Aspern has become possible,\nwhich can be carried out in parallel in different formats (case studies,\nworkshops with stakeholders and experts from art and urbanism, think tanks,\netc.). The planning process will thus be related to research, enabling a\ncontinual reflection and evaluation of the production of knowledge and the\npossible involvement of artistic practice. The question of whether and how the\nconcept and implementation of a new role can be made useful in contemporary\nurban planning\u2013 that of the \u201cnew urban practitioner\u201d \u2013 by utilizing the\npotential of both artist and urbanist approaches will be investigated.
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\nPLANNING UNPLANNED offers a unique and at the same time urgent opportunity, to\nredefine the \u201cfunction\u201d of art in the context of urban developments and to\ndevelop new methods of how similar questions of urban issues can be addressed\nin other cities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As major element of PLANNING UNPLANNED the project data base urban-matters.org<\/a> <\/a>was installed: urban-matters.org<\/a> <\/a>invites (public)art projects, programs and organizations of diverse cultural and geo-political backgrounds worldwide to contribute to this new platform for locating and connecting\u00a0urgent urban issues and discussing critical and innovative approaches. www.urban-matters.org is collecting information and data of public art organizations, institutions, biennials, as well as projects or initiatives by individuals, dealing with urban issues, in order to create a growing overview from the perspective of various and transdisciplinary backgrounds like artists, architects, urban designers, sociologists, theoreticians.\u00a0The projects\/ initiatives\/ organizations are indicated on a map and linked through search aspects making the specific local context and issues visible, creating references to similar situations internationally and their current urban practices and approaches. Publication:<\/strong>
For more information see:\u00a0www.urban-matters.org\u00a0<\/a>
<\/a>PLANNING UNPLANNED<\/a> is an artistic research project by Barbara Holub at the Institute for Art and Design\/ Prof.Christine Hohenb\u00fcchler at the Faculty of Architecture\/ University of Technology, Vienna. It was funded in the frame of \u201eInnovative Ideas\u201c\/ Vienna University of Technology. Further events like the symposium in 2012 were additionally funded by Public Art Vienna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Planning Unplanned_Darf Kunst eine Funktion haben? Towards a New Function of Art in Society<\/a><\/em>
(eds. Barbara Holub and Christine Hohenb\u00fcchler), Verlag f\u00fcr moderne Kunst, 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n