YOU ARE HERE

“… if we are to be in a myriad of exciting places in the weeks that follow.” Rachel

“YOU ARE HERE” titled the exhibition at CAMERA AUSTRIA where I was part of the curatorial team during spring last year. The arrow on a map, marked “You are here” signifies a place and enables one to locate oneself. The exhibition pointed towards locations around the globe as a topographic determination and added social, economical, political and ethical parameters. Furthermore, it discussed the subjective explorative mainly photographic approach to space. Artists: Marika Asatiani, Christoph Grill, Sylvia Henrich, Karina Nimmerfall, SofiaSylvia, Verena Winkelmann and Andrea Witzmann.

Using this exhibition as the point of departure for my initial contribution to our Lab project I transfer the idea of “You are here” onto the place where we are now.

In addition to Vikki’s playful approach to the Lab project I would like to stress the notion of a “liquid space”. Within the Geographies’ workshop (held on the 17th of December 2007) Eyal Weizman referred to the term “space” not as a fixed place, which needs to be occupied but as a gelatin like or even liquid something, which allows transformation by the event. This space is not predetermined but rather shaped and negotiated by various forces and moments of convergence that produce affiliation. Unlike authorship, where the motivation of the author lies in the subject, the Lab project, the “liquid space” could allow for a multiplicity of productivity without a centralized force.