Photo: David von Becker
Art and the City at FUTURIUM
HOW ARCHITECTURE AND ART IN PUBLIC SPACES INFLUENCE OUR LIFE IN THE CITY
What can art do in public space? In November, representatives from science, culture and politics explored this question with visitors and citizens of Berlin in our forum. The fact that we come into contact with architecture and art in the city on an almost daily basis and that it interests many people was reflected in the audience: the event was completely booked out.
Photo: David von Becker
Guests on the panel were Dr. Ute Müller-Tischler, Dr. Joerg Fingerhut, Yasha Young, and Hannah Kruft, member of our Citizen Science project "Your Emotional City". Trend researcher and psychologist Claudio Rimmele led us through this exciting evening. Who were our guests? And what did they tell?
Dr. Ute Müller-Tischler is head of the Department of Art and Culture in Berlin Mitte and responsible, among other things, for the municipal galleries, which, according to Dr. Ute Müller-Tischler, want to promote young innovative artists and the dialogue between artists and the neighborhood. However, this is not always so easy - lack of awareness, lack of funds and legislation often put obstacles in the way.
Dr. Joerg Fingerhut is a philosopher and cognitive scientist who is specialized in the field of neuroaesthetics and neurourbanism, which investigate how we perceive and process art and the built environment. Research shows that our aesthetic perception of spaces has an influence on how we behave in them. For example, we like to meet in places that we find beautiful. Studies by Dr. Joerg Fingerhut also show: art can influence how we perceive our surroundings, e.g. how connected we feel to our neighborhood.
Yasha Young is a freelance curator, urban planner and founder of URBAN NATION, the world's first institutional museum for street art. With URBAN NATION, she has literally brought "light into the dark", combining art with neighborhood work and thus creating places of encounter. Her works, however, can be seen not only in the museum but are distributed all over the city: large murals that change the cityscape.
Citizen Science Project "Your Emotional City"
But what does the event have to do with our Citizen Science project "Your Emotional City"? With "Your Emotional City", we are investigating together with citizens and visitors of Berlin how the city influences our daily well-being and which places trigger which emotions in us, in order to get an idea of what a healthier city of the future might look like. The discussion this evening showed that architecture and art in public space can play an important role in this. For Dr Joerg Fingerhut, art is therefore "an important part of the Urban Mental Health Strategy".
All our guests agreed that art does not always have to be beautiful and make people feel good. It can also be challenging and, like the Urban Nation Biennale 2019, ask "What if...?". "What if..." the city was different? "What if…” we had a say in the city of tomorrow? We put this into practice right away, because as always in the House of the Future, the audience joins the discussion.
Here are some photographic impressions of the event: