Project information

submitted by
Cansu Naz Tekir

Mentors
Ina Weise

Faculty:
Art and Design

Degree programme:
Public Art and New Artistic Strategies (english) (Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.))

Type of project presentation
Artwork

Semester
Summer semester 2019

• Freifläche 4 / area 4 (Hof Hauptgebäude)

Contributors:
kreativfonds

Project description

How are we connected to the cities? How is a city connected to itself?

weimar in weimar investigates the relationship between people and a historically well-preserved city. The work consists a replica of a facade element from Weimar-Nord which was one of the first housing areas from GDR in town. While moving the replica around the city, it aims to raise questions in both locals’ and tourists’ minds about the city’s literal and metaphorical boundaries and recreate an uncanny feeling of this unknown part of the town. During the housing crisis after WWII architects and urban planners built new neighbourhoods in a fast and an efficient way. Nevertheless those areas were disconnected from the cities and created a dull living situation. Repetitive mass housing blocks eventually led to the loss of the essence of the street and habitants try to make their own personal marks within their private spaces. This inhumane planning process was criticized by many and became one of the biggest criticisms of the modern movement in architecture.

The replica is something familiar to everyone which becomes unfamiliar and creates a distancing effect. Thus it is in between being a monument and an anti-monument as it represents a permanent part temporarily in the city. The clash between the alternative and touristic places by decontextualizing the historical elements leads to draw attention to the traces of modernist architecture have been left out of the city throughout the decades.