Sep 26–Nov 2, 2008
Signs of the City - Metropolis Speaking
Barcelona : Berlin : London : Sofia
"Signs of the City – Metropolis Speaking" has been running for nearly two years now, exploring the symbol world of the European city. The project has been taking place in four western metropolises with very different cultural developments: London, Barcelona, Berlin, and Sofia.
Youths and young adults have been doing research into the system of symbols of these cities – each containing over a million inhabitants – and compiling inventories with the means of digital photography and the new media, with camera phones, digital still cameras and GPS receivers. In the process, they have been documenting urban life in these cities and publishing the results on the online image database.
This innovative Internet photo-community is designed as a modern archive for public use. The research phase includes thirty-five workshops in four cities. In addition, an extensive exchange programme involving the participants and artists fosters a valuable exchange on both artistic-methodical approaches and specific local conditions.
The interplay of the individual parts of the project form a total work of art that not only transcends borders, but also links renowned contemporary arts institutes, media training centres, youth art and leisure centres, and one of the world’s leading social research institutes.
The conference
In the final conference , international experts will discuss the experiences made during the project, and seek to stimulate a critical dialogue, combined with practical examples and theoretical reflections.
For further information, please see
urbandialogues.de
The event is organized by urban dialogues in cooperation with the House of World Cultures, Next Intercultural Projects, Hangar and Artibarri Barcelona, the Atelier of Free Associations and the House of Cinema Sofia as well as the Goethe Institute Bulgaria, Watermans London and the Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR) at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Signs of the City has been carried out with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union, the Capital Cultural Fund Berlin, the Institute of Culture of the City of Barcelona, the British Council Berlin, the Spanish Embassy in Berlin, SONY and Koschwitz Berlin. It works in collaboration with the Goethe-Institutes in Sofia, Barcelona and London.
