Research
Cognitive Minorities in Leipzig and Dallas
The objective of this research project is to ascertain – by means of a comparative analysis of ‘cognitive minorities’ – how people maintain a view of the world that deviates significantly from the one generally taken for granted in their social environment. Using a complementary research design the project aims to reconstruct how a distinctive group of religious believers (Evangelical… read more
Architecture as a Social Construction
According to Émile Durkheim the »first and fundamental rule« of sociological thought is to »consider social facts as things«. Rather what happens if we flip this perspective and see built things as social facts? The architectural theory I propose in my Habilitation thesis »Der sinnhafte Aufbau der gebauten Welt« (Suhrkamp, 2015) builds on the sociology of knowledge formulated by Peter… read more
»We are the City!«
My doctoral thesis, published 2008 as »Wir sind die Stadt!« by Campus, is based on an ethnographic community study inspired by the research methodology of the Chicago School. As a member of the artist groups niko.31 and general panel I participated in and observed spatial practices of artists, independent book publishers, radio activists, designers, architects as well as people operating »off-spaces« or music clubs in the city… read more
Stadiumworlds – Football, Space and the Built Environment
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world and it is played in a great variety of places, such as the street, the yard, the lawn, the pitch – and the stadium. While most of these places are a »football space« only as long as it is played there, the football stadium is a building that »embodies«… read more
Leipzig Protest Atlas
»As soon as you apply geographical, economic or demographic detail to a map«, writes cartographer Philippe Rekacewicz, »you become political, because you necessarily make a choice«. Maps have always been instruments of spatial control. They compile knowledge about a territory that is usually clearly demarcated; they serve orientation and are the prerequisite for certain actions in this space. Against this… read more
Orbit Palace: Indications of figures and spaces of redundant time
As an artistic contribution to the exhibition Shrinking Cities (2004), Orbit Palace examines the complex structure of urban spaces under the aspect of redundant time. How do people spend their time in areas where deindustrialization and a large amount of disused spaces characterize the landscape? The project explores how people whose daily routine is not (or no longer) determined by the rigid schedule of… read more