Häupl-Schicker-Steinbauer

Utopian city maps / pressconference / Installation (2008)

Three modified city maps of Vienna, laminated on dibond, and a fictitious press conference. All routes of the public transport system (underground metro, buses, tramways) on the maps are arranged in a new way. What at first sight seems like an elaborate city map turns into mockery, a scheme of no use at all. In front of the plans a plausible press conference panel is built: a 3-meter table with a white table-cloth, 3 chairs, microphones (as provided by tv and radio-stations), and glasses with beverages. The names of the three people on the panel are printed on cards: Haeupl, Schicker, Steinbauer – the mayor of Vienna, a member of the council, the director of the Viennese public transportation. The headline for the press conference is “Vienna – think it new”. There are no further details given.  

The setup of the public transport network in urban areas shapes our view of the city, it can be read as a projection of society’s power structure onto the urban space and informs us how we sense and perceive the city – and how we move within it. The complete redesign of the city transportation map reveals a different outlook on the city, new routes might show how certain areas are discriminated in the current layout. Media power reinforces the power of the city maps by representational power. This notion, being demonstrated in a staged press conference of local politicians, has to be decoded by the audience. Alternative realities and the passion for potentialities and utopias are recurrent themes in several other works of Christoph Schwarz, and highly important for the understanding of “Häupl-Schicker-Steinbauer“.

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With kind support from Freytag & Berndt, Wien.
Thanks to AKG, AV Professional, FM4, Krone Hitradio, Okto, Radio Orange, Puls 4.

Photos: Florian Rainer, Christian Schwab

"Bitte ziehen sie eine Nummer" dieVeranda, Mai 2008
Opening Exhibition, Gallery Strickner, Juni 2008