Townhall Meeting: Empathetic Exchange

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The research project SPACEX responds to the troubling rise of populist nationalism and conflict in European societies by engaging new publics and forging a culture that embraces diversity, difference, and discursive exchange within cities, towns and urban sites. SPACEX proposes that inventing new and inclusive ways of living together, requires the implementation of new transdisciplinary and cross-sectoral practices and methods, that connect spatial practice with cultural sociology, cultural policy, critical pedagogies and behavioural economics. The SPACEX Townhall Meeting in Vienna is a major public event at the final stage of SPACEX and focusses on Empathetic Exchange as vital topic of SPACEX: To discuss and make the goals of SPACEX tangible, for counteracting right wing demagogies in Europe and enhancing democratic values through artistic and socially engaged strategies and projects of art and architecture. Especially in the perspective of our turmoiled political situation in Europe, this event — and the engagement of SPACEX altogether — is more relevant than ever. Empathetic Exchange will produce performative situations and various other artistic formats, for engaging and addressing the public as active participants. In addition projects developed by SPACEX partners will be presented in various media. The event will create an overlay of actions based on an experimental choreography, enhancing unexpected encounters and direct experience. The originally preserved counters of the Otto Wagner Postsparkasse as well as a special booth in the former cashier hall will serve as spaces for creating a dialogue on ‘empathetic exchange’ across the counters. Whereas the counters of the bank served for economic exchange, the SPACEX Townhall Meeting will use the counters for encouraging and envisioning an exchange of non-commercial values. Rather than promoting protest in a direct way, Empathetic Exchange will produce small moments, modest gestures, ambivalence, silence, moments of reflection for offering an exchange, also on a personal level, for creating an awareness of taking care - of one’s own interests in relation to respecting the others. An evening of discussions and performances (17:00–20:00) With contributions by: Mel Jordan (Coventry University) and Andrew Hewitt (University of Northampton), leaders of SPACEX; Jitka Hlavačková (Prague City Gallery/ GHMP, Prague), Susanne Prinz (Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin), Vittorio Iervese (Università di Modena, Modena), Aline Hernandez/ Marianna Takou (CASCO Art Institute, Utrecht); Annette Krauss, Julienne Lorz (University of Applied Arts Vienna), Barbara Putz-Plecko (former Vice Rector and Head of the Dept. Art and Communicative Practice, Universtity of Applied Arts Vienna), and others. Moderation: Kathrin Wildner (urban ethnologist, metroZones, Berlin). The event is conceived by Barbara Holub (University of Applied Arts Vienna) and Paul Rajakovics (transparadiso) as partners of SPACEX. The SPACEX Townhall Meeting will be presented by Barbara Holub at the SPACEX-conference, Nov. 13-14, 2025, in the frame of the Coventry Biennial (UK).

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