What housing models and environments can be found in the European sphere?
How are these perceived by their daily users?

In order to approach this question, we (X-CHANGE, the project co-organisers and our partners) distributed 60 easy-to-use disposable cameras among interested residents in Berlin, Istanbul, Ferrara and Vienna. These participants – drawn from a range of ages, social spheres, professions and life situations – were asked to photograph how they currently live (with or without co-habitants, interior and exterior pictures, their favourite rooms, etc). Having been developed, the images from each city were judged and selected by a professional jury via the internet. The aim was not to select the most “beautiful” images, but to arrive at the broadest possible collection of images of living cultures, in all their various manifestations and facets. The selected photographs are intended to encourage viewers to personally engage with and reflect on their own as well as other’s living cultures.

All participants and their photographs:

VIENNA

What conceptions and wishes do young residents (children and teenagers) have concerning their living spaces?

In order to answer this question, creative workshops for children and teenagers were devised and carried out at several schools in Vienna and Istanbul. During the course of these workshops (which were jointly led by artists from across Europe and the class teachers), the children had the opportunity to engage with their ideas of a “dream home” and “living in the future”, and to express these ideas through creative means (drawings, collages etc.).

How are regionally specific dwelling models reflected by local artists in their work?
How do their colleagues from the “outside” perceive a “foreign” living culture?

Artists, photographers and authors were invited for a few days to a city unfamiliar to them (Berlin, Istanbul, Ferrara or Vienna) and given the task to engage artistically with the dwelling models of that city, to interpret them and to render them “visible” in their respective artistic languages. The work of artists from different backgrounds on this joint task was also intended to facilitate inter-European exchange on an artistic and personal level, and a selection of the resulting works is presented here. In addition, local artists and photographers living in the respective cities were invited to participate in the project with pre-existing works and through these to create a “calling card” of their cities.

Quali culture e quali scenari dell’abitare offre lo spazio europeo?
Come vengono percepite queste culture e scenari dai loro utenti quotidiani?

Per sviluppare questa questione abbiamo (XCHANGE, co-organizzatori e partner) distribuito 60 macchine fotografiche monouso facili da usare, a cittadini e cittadine interessati di Berlino, Istanbul, Ferrara e Vienna. Ai partecipanti – di età diversa, di diversa estrazione sociale, appartenenti a diverse categorie professionali e in diverse condizioni di vita – è stato chiesto di fotografare il loro attuale modo di vivere e di abitare (con o senza coinquilini, foto di interni e di esterni, spazi preferiti ecc.).
Una volte sviluppate le foto di tutte le città, queste sono state sottoposte a una giuria competente che ha selezionato le migliori. Non si trattava, però, di scegliere le immagini “più belle”, quanto piuttosto di riuscire ad avere una gamma il più possibile ampia di idee dell’abitare in tutti i loro diversi aspetti e nelle più varie sfaccettature. Questa selezione vuole stimolare nell’osservatore un confronto e una riflessione sulla propria e sulle altre culture dell’abitare.

All participants and their photographs:

VIENNA

Quali idee e desideri associano i giovani (bambini e adolescenti) con l’abitare?

Per dare risposte a questa domanda, sono stati progettati e realizzati workshop creativi in diverse scuole di Vienna e di Istanbul. All’interno di questi workshop i bambini hanno avuto la possibilità di confrontarsi, guidati da artisti e artiste di tutta Europa e con l’aiuto delle loro insegnanti, con l’idea della loro “casa dei desideri” e del futuro dell’ abitare ed esprimere queste idee in modo creativo (disegni, college ecc.).