Congratulations to our students Lucy Li and Stephanie Kneissl for winning the Stadtarbeit Prize at the Vienna Design Week for their project ‘Alsergrund on Display’. Building on the studio democracy brief ‘Active Citizenry’, Lucy and Stephanie spent the summer creating the tools for their new citizen museum.
District museums are lovingly curated institutions with peculiar opening hours where specific local history is reviewed. ALSERGRUND ON DISPLAY represents a branch of a district museum that, instead of the Alsergrund’s history, focuses on that of the visitor. What could such a democratic museum be like, where all locals feel they’re represented? Where everyday life is on display rather than general history? Where the district’s residents become curators? Visitors will be sounded out: what emotions, memories, dreams of the future do they associate with the 9th district? What themes should be dealt with? And how can these narratives be illustrated with the aid of objects? The audience was invited to bring along exhibits and contribute them to the temporary museum’s collection.
