Same not same : video and sound installation by Eva Ursprung

Co-industrial coincidences 

Video- and Sound installation by Eva Ursprung

Wednesday, Nov. 30th at 7 pm

Since Sharon Zukin’s study on SoHo in the 1960s and 1970s, New York City has been a well-known case of gentrification. The role of artists as “gentrifiers” has since become a popular strategy for developers in (post-)industrial countries all over the world.

 Long Island City, Queens is still one of the more industrial, and  unattractive neighborhoods in New York City. But like the renowned Kunsthaus in Graz, which is located in the formerly disreputable “Griesviertel” area, one of the most prestigious museums in New York, the MOMA PS1, is located in this post-industrial neighborhood. Among other arts organizations, there is also Flux Factory, a collective, self-organized artist space.

One of the last places to be gentrified in Graz seems to be the “Puchviertel” on the fringe of “Gries,” a zone between prison, graveyard, dump site, power plant, slaughterhouse and the oldest social housing buildings. Eva Ursprung has been exploring this neighborhood since she moved into the area with the self-organized artist group “Schaumbad – Freies Atelierhaus Graz,” transforming about 6.560 square feet of a former factory into studios for about 40 artists, an exhibition space and workshops.

Compared to New York with its 8,4 million inhabitants, Graz with its 265.000 is very small. But still there are places, that look quite similar. During her stay at Flux Factory, Eva Ursprung is collecting similarities between Graz and the areas surrounding Flux Factory in Queens. In her video- and sound environment, she will highlight the similar/different faces of post- and co-industrial lifeworlds in Graz and Queens.

Supported by the Department of Culture, Europe and Foreign Relations of the Regional Goverment of Styria, and The Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria.