Comments from the participants
Some comments from the participants
Many of the participants shared some information about their contributions and about their motivation for taking part in the project:
Hagen is severely disabled and has difficulties with hand motor skills. He has painted "Mama" in one of his favorite colors. For him and us a masterpiece that we would like more people to see.
My cat is so pretty and I think more people should see him.
I am a mathematician at the Technical University of Berlin and work, among other things, on conformal mappings and their discretization. The picture shows a conformal mapping of a chrysanthemum and combines mathematics and art in an impressive way.
The photo shows a Berlin ice creature... so to speak from the underworld. Taken on the frozen canal in Neukölln.
With my picture of the back of a friend's head, I wanted to surprise him. Also, his hairstyle looked like the yin & yang sign, because of his swirl.
I have chosen a work called "compliment shower," which gives the viewer a compliment that has nothing to do with the external appearance.
What’s next?
Du bist am Zug yielded a great volume of data, which we are now processing in order to present them in an article – and then, in a book. At the same time, we are looking for further opportunities to conduct similar projects – in Berlin and elsewhere.
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Our vision
DU BIST AM ZUG is part of our research on public spaces and freedom of expression.
What is freedom of expression?
In theory, all people have an equal right to the free expression. Yet, in practice, only a few individuals have the opportunity to express themselves publicly in a way that reaches an audience. The access to mass media is strongly associated with political and economic power. On the social media, one’s messages mostly reach one’s acquaintances and like-minded people. Museums and galleries exhibit only works of famous artists.
Urban public spaces, where we all spend our time daily, offer the best opportunities to express oneself and to be heard. Yet, today these spaces are dominated by advertising, political messages, and commissioned art. An individual’s right to free speech thus remains a theoretical ideal.
Du bist am Zug aspired to change this picture – even if only for a short while – offering everyone a stage – a real chance to express him- or herself freely in urban public space. At the same time, the project gave people in Berlin the opportunity to learn what their fellow citizens wish to share with them. We hope that our project will start a new kind of social discourse – a genuinely inclusive and egalitarian exchange, free from commercial or political interests.
Who owns public spaces?
Theoretically, we all do, but what does this mean? Practically, this means that we all can access public spaces: we constantly use these spaces on our way to work, to meet friends, to shop or otherwise spend our time. We can admire a statue placed in a public part or ask ourselves what a piece of modern art placed on a plaza actually means.
We all play the passive role of consumers of our own city – we can use the city to commute, to shop, to work, but we cannot change or add anything to the public space we all theoretically own. While advertising and graffiti struggle over our attention, most city residents remain invisible.
Now imagine another city – a city whose public spaces carry messages of its residents, whose landscapes are created and recreated as an ever-changing collage of multiple voices. In this city, public spaces are genuinely public – visit them, and you’ll encounter the worlds of people who live in the city; leave your own contribution, and others will learn something about you, too.
Du bist am Zug is a first step in the direction of this imaginary city. It allowed some space for free expression and creativity. Through this first experiment, demonstrated that public spaces may become interesting, colorful, funny, thought-provoking and touching if people are given the chance to design them with their expressions.
