VIRTUAL Barcelona
Abstract
Venice: goods, images, tourism and consequences. The circulation of goods (trade), images and people, has been the defining element of the city of Venice since its foundation. After Corona, which represented for Venice on the one hand “recovery” but on the other hand, just like the flood of 2019, an existential crisis, just now the aggravation of the spatial consequences and the spatial conflicts, among others, by overtourism and gentrification, is more evident than ever. Venice was and is copied and reproduced many times, casinos in Las Vegas to Macao, theme parks in China. The copies and reproductions imagine, vary and scale most wanted landmarks and sights of the Serenissima. It offers a projection foil for diverse spatial imaginaries, therefore I chose it as a case study for this art and research project, as it links on different levels the artistic discourse around image, model, after-image (copy) and image with the social science discourse around reconfiguration and urban change. The project artistically investigates contemporary phenomena of Venice (and its copies). Across time (historical travelogues) and media (from vedute, to postcard and Instagram selfies), images create tourist expectations that reverberate to shape Venice as a city. These after-images, like the ab-images in the form of photographs or postcards, work their way into the structural and visual design of Venice; they nest in the bodies of viewers; they continually motivate new places in the world to build a piece of Venice. These recreations, however, are not simply copies or simulations, but appropriated re-creations. Concepts such as construction site, stage, façadism, and ruin, with which I work, play a decisive role. The talk will give an insight in the artistic research process of the project while presenting already accomplished art works, seminars with students and new findings about Venice.
funded with SFB 1265 “Re-Figuration of Spaces”, DFG (German Research Foundation).
Stefanie Bürkle lives and works in Berlin. She studied scenography in Paris and fine arts at the UdK in Berlin. She has been Professor of Fine Arts at the TU Berlin since 2009. As head of department, she is responsible for the artistic education of students at the Institute of Architecture. As an artist and urban researcher, she initiates her own artistic research and art projects. Her projects combine art and science, with a critical examination of the usual perception of the city and the production of space always taking centre stage. The integration of artistic and scientific methods give