With the municipal buildings of "Red Vienna," the utopia of enabling weaker individuals in society to also have a good life was realised. Originally erected in the 1920s to provide affordable living space for the working class as well as urban infrastructure, communal ownership of housing also makes it possible today to integrate people who would otherwise have limited opportunities in neoliberal society. The relevance of municipal ownership to the current situation consists as well of the possibility to exert an attenuating influence on real estate speculation and rising rents.
With her camera, Gisela Erlacher (*1956) follows the parcourse through the archways of superblocks such as the Sandleiten-Hof, Goethe-Hof, and Karl-Marx-Hof. She portrays residents and visitors in all their diversity and gives them space to present themselves beyond stereotyped depictions.
Text in English and German.
