REAL ONES ALWAYS SURVIVE

REAL ONES ALWAYS SURVIVE or WOULD WE SAY NO? IV

A tour against racism and polemics in every day language and thinking through a few districts of Vienna in June 2009

The media artist Alexandra Reill together with the social worker Karin Gruber take to the street with their socio-cultural project REAL ONES ALWAYS SURVIVE or WOULD WE SAY NO? IV. The interdisciplinary team tours the districts Leopoldstadt, Landstraße, Margareten, Neubau, Alsergrund, Ottakring and Donaustadt - the vast majority of these districts being working class neighbourhoods. At street fairs, traffic junctions and in markets the team distribute to people in the street [post] cards with images and text quotations out of the media showing the bluntness of prejudices and populist arguments used by racist forces at all times.

Place and Time

9th district: Alsergrund: June 6, 2009
at the Südwind festival in the old AKH
11 am to 6 pm

7th district: Neubau: June 7, 2009
at the street fair in Stiftgasse on Spittelberg
1 pm to 10 pm

2nd district: Leopoldstadt: June 12, 2009
in front of the church Nepomukkirche on Praterstraße
10 am to 2 pm

5th district: Margareten: June 13, 2009
on Margaretenplatz
10 am to 5 pm

3rd district: Landstraße: June 19 and 20, 2009
in front of the subway station Rochusgasse on Rochusmarkt
3 pm to 7 pm

22nd district: Donaustadt: June 19 and 20, 2009
as an installation in public space on Genochmarkt in cooperation with MIK
6 pm to 11 pm

16 th district: Ottakring: June 20, 2009
at the farmer's market on Yppenplatz
10 am to 2 pm

With their historic text and image citations, the cards document the situation of unemployed people in the 30ies, Nazi propaganda on the term work and enthusiasm of the vast majority of the Viennese population for the "Anschluß" 1938. Contemporary motifs are compared to today's polemics surrounding the issue of work and prosperity, areas of social life, still and again strongly used by racist forces defaming and segregating people with different cultural backgrounds without any differentiation, having gone so far lately that they show their preparedness to threaten and kill people.

The card objects point out how deceptive populism is and acts but how powerful it is in its influence on attitudes of people. In this context, the question of how deeply rooted fascistoid and racist attitudes are in Viennese populations, is not blocked out. Not only prompted by current incidents in Austrian society but also on a long-term basis a sustained analysis of contemporary anti-semitism and racism in everyday thinking and language is an issue.

The white cube is probably the wrong place, and maybe contemporary cultural production took to the street a long time ago. In any case, for the transdisciplinary and socio-cultural profile of this project the artistic approach of intervening in public space and directly encountering people works particularly well. As a sign of communication in public space and as a reminder sign in kitchens and living rooms, the printed [post] card itself as much as the changing of the cards from one hand to the other opens up the possibility of outreach to people, mobile discourse and open dialogue. With her project REAL ONES ALWAYS SURVIVE or WOULD SAY NO? IV, a fourth adaptation of the original sequence installed in shops and restaurants in Kirchengasse and Siebensterngasse in 1070 Vienna in autumn 2008, Alexandra Reill stands up to everyday racism and xenophobia, prejudice and populist polemic and the fear of the unknown.

Team
Concept:
Alexandra Reill
Intervention in public space, video documentation:
Alexandra Reill, Karin Gruber
Production:
kanonmedia, Vienna 2009

Press Contact
Alexandra Reill
call: + +43 [0] 6991 820 70 03
write to: 12/24, Richtergasse, A 1070 Vienna
mail to: [email protected]
visit: http://www.kanonmedia.com

Support
REAL ONES ALWAYS SURVIVE or WOULD SAY NO? IV is supported by the following Municipalities:

1020 Vienna 1030 Vienna 1040 Vienna 1050 Vienna
1070 Vienna 1090 Vienna 1160 Vienna 1170 Vienna

At this point we would also like to thank Mission Ignition Kagran and Südwind hosting the projects in the context of the socio-cultural interventions on MIK Genochmarkt and within the framework of the Südwind Festival.