The city of Vienna has a long tradition of interventions and actions in the public space. With this year’s topic URBAN HACKING, the fourth paraflows festival continues this artistic investigation of the public and urban space of living. What is more, paraflows 09 will shed light on the role played by digital media when it comes to exploring, questioning, and shaping the urban infrastructure.

Exhibition URBAN HACKING
Symposium URBAN HACKING: Cultural Jamming Strategies in the Risky Spaces of Modernity
Paraflows at Metalab

And yesterday happend a really great MP3 experiment… check out the full recording…

Out of their announcement:

The city spreads out before you. Rushing from point to point, lit by the slow strobe of fluorescent buses in dark streets. Stumbling into situations for a stranger’s signature. Fleeing unknown pursuers, breathing hard, admiring the landscape and the multitude of worlds hidden in it.

For one night, drop your relations, your work and leisure activities, and all your usual motives for movement and action, and let yourself be drawn by the attractions of the chase and the encounters you find there.

Try to make it through a series of checkpoints as quickly and as stealthily as possible, while avoiding being caught by chasers. Should you be captured, you become a chaser yourself and have to pursue your former friends and allies. No skates, no bikes, no cars — just your feet and public transport.

Starting point for the Journey will be a shallow pit in Prater, near the tram 1 stop Prater Hauptallee and U2 station Stadion (GPS: 48.20673 / 16.40878; see map).

Join in a free street game of epic proportion; a pursuit across the city in multiple parts – and be sure to wear comfortable shoes & bring water =)

Wir wollen eine Bring-Your-Own-Beer Trinkaktion im Hof des Museumsquartiers
veranstalten. Dazu müssen wir Leute und die Presse mobilisieren.

­ ORT/ZEIT: Samstag, 20. Juni 2009, 18.00-18.05 Uhr. Innenhof des
Museumsquartiers (Museumsplatz 1/5, 1070 Wien).

­ VORGEHENSWEISE: Ab 18 Uhr wird 5 Minuten lang während des Trinkens
regelmäßig laut zugeprostet!

­ ZIELGRUPPE: Alle, die ein Interesse daran haben, ihre mitgebrachten
Getränke weiterhin im MQ trinken zu dürfen.

­ GRUND: Das MQ ist ein öffentlicher Platz und wird mit unseren
Steuergeldern finanziert, im Jahr 2005 mit ca. 11 Mio. Euro. Wir sehen
nicht ein, wieso wir dazu gezwungen werden sollten, das Bier vor Ort zu
kaufen!

Es haben sich schon mindestens 2 facebook-gruppen gegründet und es gibt ein
geplantes protestereignis:

http://bringyourbeer.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=89218829570

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=96081236267

The world's stereotype view of Austria, along the Gürtel

The Mustache and the Freedom Party leader HC Strache

Once there was Hitler, an Austrian-born naturalised German who tried to rule the world, and his (in) famous mustache. That everything evil embodies him and his facial hair. That if they put this particular mustache on someone else’s face it is a way of offending that person. Little did the people know that it was a trend sometime in the 1920s. Or they might be aware of it but it doesn’t matter anyway. What is important is that they showed their anger or disagreement by allowing themselves to manipulate or vandalize the face.

It is pretty much impossible for you to not have come across mosaics done by French street artist “Invader” before, but now he got to – legally – artify an entire part of the MQ complex.

The small bridge between Breite Gasse and MuseumsQuartier is where Street Art Passage is located (this is the third themed passage initiated by quartier21, by the way – the other two are TONSPUR_passage and KABINETT comic passage). Next to the bridge, works by national and international street artists will be displayed from now on, and street art magazine “betonblumen” can be bought from a machine for €2.

Tonight, Invader will be signing the current edition of the magazine from 7-8 p.m.

MQ article
space-invaders.com
betonblumen

Location: Technical University, Freihaus.

Link

Well… I’m quite sure this nice piece of urban art has any political background… but still…

(Albin Egger-Lienz poster, Stiftgasse)

It’s called Urbantakeover, and it’s all about, well, taking over your town. In this case Vienna.

That doesn’t mean only Viennese can play it, it’s just been developed by some Viennese, and most of the players are there right now. Basically, all you have to do is tag. Print out some stickers, get your handle on them and go claim some space. Once it’s yours, you can SMS the info and get some points. The website tracks your success, and lets you know if you have been crossing others who are playing the game.

Fans of Rand can go it alone, or you can join teams to increase your standings as a group.

I’m not too sure the whole idea of stickering up the landscape will play too well with local authorities if it ever catches on, but until that happens, or some other means of tagging is considered (geotagged flickr photos anyone?) it will just have to do.

Urbantakeover