What is Public Space?

• Week 1

This seminar offers an introduction to the history of the idea of public space, pointing to the transition from "public space" into "corporate space." What is meant by critical practice?

Presentation of ideas of public space as laid out by Pierre Bordieu, Richard Sennett ("Flesh and Stone"), Bertold Brecht, Walter Benjamin ("Paris, Capital of the 19th century") and cyber theory.

Group project
Student assignment for week 3: How would their placement (critical intervention in public space / performance / installation at a chosen site) look like? What issues are of interest (Sites could be: plaza, post office, train station, corporate offices, zoo, prison, supermarket, schools, hospitals, churches, city streets, hotels or (suburban) housing projects). The intervention could take on forms as divers as bumper stickers, bill boards, post cards, posters, street signs, bus ads, fake newspapers, guides to soup kitchens, comics, guides- audio tapes, stencils, walking tours, directional signs capturing the history of a house or a family or the character of a community.