The City & The Good Life
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With contributions by: Uýra Sodoma, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Raphaël Grisey & Bouba Touré, Tony Cokes, Naoko Kaltschmidt, Jörg Heiser, Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch, Folke Köbberling, Rosalyn D’Mello, Sabrina Asche, Erik van der Weijde, Mike Slack, and many more
In a time of environmental degradation, wasted resources, and political inaction, thinking about a “good life” seems nearly impossible. Camera Austria nevertheless responded to a call for tenders the City of Graz formulated within the framework of Graz Kulturjahr 2020 with the project Die Stadt & Das gute Leben (The City & The Good Life), which was conceived by the entire board of the association and developed in close collaboration with the artist Daniela Brasil. This project—among many other, in part surprising experiences—clearly showed how very localized urbanities are constructed and composed, are fragmentary and at times fleeting, and that many of them exist in parallel without necessarily perceiving or knowing very much about each other.
The magazine seems like an appropriate medium to juxtapose the questions originally raised in a local context with broader international debates which at the same time have influenced the project The City & The Good Life from the very beginning. The result of this juxtaposition is a rather heterogeneous issue of Camera Austria International, which includes Indigenous perspectives on the notion of a good life in close connection to nature (Uýra Sodoma, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson), the relevance of the individual in collaborative projects (Raphaël Grisey & Bouba Touré), mechanisms of domination and exclusion in public space and how they are made visible through art (Tony Cokes / Naoko Kaltschmidt), the relevance of historical awareness and a culture of remembrance in the contemporary city (Jörg Heiser), the allocation of space and resources in the public domain and how they are unequally divided between humans and nature (Folke Köbberling), the question how a “good life” is being perceived subjectively and how the perspective on this may change over time (Rosalyn D’Mello), and the relationship between the individual consumption of fast fashion and the production conditions of the clothing industry (Sabrina Asche). Further, Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch have developed an insert titled Echo Space through which the numerous subprojects and frequently minimal interventions of the project The City & The Good Life in Graz resonate.
The issue is rounded off by an interview Erik van der Weijde led with Mike Slack for his series “Talking Books” and a comprehensive review section with responses to internationally relevant exhibitions and recent publications, including Massao Mascaro, Fondation A Stichting, Brussels; L’image et son double, Centre Pompidou, Paris; … oder kann das weg?, nGbK, Berlin; Art Club2000, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich; Female Sensibility, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz; Pauline Curnier Jardin, Index Foundation, Stockholm; steirischer herbst, Graz, and many more.
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