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KUNST IM STRASSENVERKEHR
Verein zur Vermittlung von Projekten
zwischen Autofahrern u. Fu§gŠngern
www.einstellungsraum.de
Hamburg, September 2008
einstellungsraum
e.V. concerning
art in road traffic. Einstellungsraum
is an initiative by
artists who have made it their
goal to inform the interested public about
contemporary art and culture.In
particular the association is
concerned automobility
and tries
to analyse its phenomenons.
In
2004 the four cycle engine in the version of
its inventor
Nikolaus August Otto was yearly subject. The year
2005 picked out the
term 'paradise' in relation to the automobile as
its central theme,
2006 it was STEUERN UND LENKEN (steering and
guiding) in relation
to personal and objective resources in a
morphogenetical field, 2007 it
was about SCHEIN (appearance), 2008 about BREMSEN
(breaking).
The EINSTELLUNGSRAUM wants to continue its work in
2009 by
subordinating all exhibitions and performances
under one theme. 10
exhibitions respectively performances are planned,
complemented
by a theory-conference respectively performance.
Shared space removes the traditional segregation of motor vehicles, pedestrians and other road users. Conventional road priority management systems and devices such as kerbs, lines, signs and signals are replaced with an integrated, people-oriented understanding of public space, such that walking, cycling, shopping and driving cars become integrated activities.
The term 'shared space' was coined by Ben Hamilton-Baillie while preparing a European co-operation project in 2003. The idea itself was pioneered and promoted by Hans Monderman, based on the observation that individuals' behaviour in traffic is more positively affected by the built environment of the public space than it is by conventional traffic control devices and regulations. The goal of shared space is an improvement in road safety, encouraging negotiation of shared areas at appropriate speeds and with due consideration for the other users, using simple rules like giving way to the right.
This European Shared Space project (part of the Interreg IIIB-North Sea programme) between 2004 and 2008 developed new policies and methods for the design of public spaces with streets. Hans Monderman was the head of the project's "expert team" prior to his death in 2008."
http://en.wikipedia.org
(The following paragraph starts by refering to the German word 'Verkehr'=traffic in the German wikipedia entry. The term 'Verkehr' is looked at in its meaning in history as well as etymology - thus we leave the original German words in the translated text.)
When reading the description carefully it catches ones attention that the term Verkehr has started to be expanded again here from the contemporary transport of people and goods to the conception how it was common in the 18th century: 'Umgang mit jemandem haben' , so maybe walk around someone possibly to perceive him/her from all sides, by doing this voluntarily neglecting the original own direction of movement. Bevor that, in Middle High German, the meaning of 'verkehren', or the verb 'verkeren', "umwenden, verdrehen, ins Entgegengesetzte verŠndern, eine falsche Richtung gebenŇ (Duden) [verbs like turn around, twist, change to the opposite, to give a wrong direction. The Duden is a German dictionary].
In the apostil in the appendum there is a quotation by Confucius* which expounds the problem of the habits of people. As is known the habits of both car drivers and pedestrians related to space are different. Now with the new traffic concept space between the walls of houses that border that space should be used collectively.
Paul Virilio already in 1993 in Revolutionen der Geschwindigkeit (revolutions of the speed) explained that power and authority structures are based on speed that fascinates people, numbs, mobilizes, lets disappear, eventually lets disappear space so that only time remains.