A marked neighborhood.
The project in a nutshell
Eisenbahnstraße in Leipzig? The media have been full of racist and classist clichés about it for years. And as if to officially confirm this stigmatization, Saxony’s first weapons ban zone was introduced here in November 2018.
We thought: this sucks! And we interviewed residents from the adjacent neighborhoods. We published these interviews together with other texts and many of our own photos in two issues of our newspaper “Dangerous Object: Eisenbahnstraße” – to show: Eisenbahnstraße is much more! And the problems that exist here are more complex than BILD or ProSieben want to tell us.
Online exhibition
This is the online version of our project. Like the newspapers, it contains interviews with residents and various photographic strategies for approaching the neighbourhoods around Eisenbahnstraße, as well as topics that are important to us. There are also individual video clips and, in future, possibly audio recordings.
The central concern of the online version, as with the newspapers, is to amplify the voices of those who have to fight for equal rights or even their existence and space in society. Our goal is to make these struggles ours and, as artist-activist Ayşe Güleç put it, to place ourselves not in front of them, not next to them, but with them. The topics are the same as in the issues of the newspaper: racial profiling, displacement processes, everyday life and structural racism.
We wish you a good and thought-provoking “exhibition visit”! Unfortunately, the online version is only available in German so far.
Supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Leipzig.
Editorial of the First Edition
Our newspaper "Gefährlicher Gegenstand: Eisenbahnstraße" is a documentary but non-partisan investigation into the conditions in the neighborhoods around Eisenbahnstraße in the east of Leipzig, where a gun ban zone was introduced in 2018. In August 2019, we published the photo newspaper "Dangerous object: Eisenbahnstraße", in which we countered the stigma of "Germany's worst street" (ProSieben) with a differentiated, critical picture. To do this, we had long conversations with residents, used video stills from relevant TV documentaries and our own bodycam footage. We photographed special places in the neighborhood with a large-format camera.
Editorial of the Second Edition
We published a 2nd edition in 2020. With the question in mind of how the ongoing gentrification in the neighborhood and the hype surrounding the "dangerous place" go together, we photographed the surfaces and facades of the neighborhoods in analytical black and white shots. As Google Street View had already documented the neighborhoods in 2008 and 2009, we were also able to take a look back and search for our own images in front of the screen. In the comments on Tripadvisor, Google Maps, booking.com and airbnb, we searched for reviews of individual places in the neighborhood to highlight the absurdity of the consuming and evaluative view of Eisenbahnstraße. Using a 35mm camera, we also documented various messages on houses, signs and situations on the streets. We captured our encounters with the residents in portraits that are intended to invite people to engage with their perspectives.
In our store, you will find the second edition of the newspaper ‘Dangerous Object: Eisenbahnstraße’ and the respective translations in English, Turkish, Arabic and Russian.
Hand prints on baryta paper
Choose one of five large-format photographs.
We will enlarge these ourselves in our specialist laboratory to 40x50cm with a white border. The print is hand-signed and limited to an edition of 3 pieces per photograph. Contact us if you’re interested!
Media echo
. Interview with Radio Corax vom 23. Januar 2020
. Interview with Sibel Schick für den Kreuzer vom 10. Februar 2020
. Interview with Radio Blau, Leipzig vom 14. Februar 2020
. Article in the Leipziger (Internet-)Zeitung vom 16. Februar 2020
. Article at ze.tt vom 1. März 2020
. Article at the Leipziger Zeitung vom 16.5.2021
. Interview with Radio Corax vom 21.5.2021
. Interview with Leipziger Zustände 2021
. Publications of parts in Querfeld Magazin #5, 2021
City and Racism: Analyses and Perspectives for Anti-Racist Urbanity by Eckardt & Bouguerra (eds.), 2021
Past events and exhibition
Readings in 2020 at Pöge-Haus, adi, el libro, auf der radical book fair
We read a selection of inspiring passages out of the five long conversations in the first issue of the newspaper. Then we want to discuss with you: Which problems do you see in the neighborhood? Which experiences did you make with controls in the no-weapons zone? Why is so little happening against the no-weapons zone? What has to change so that everyone can feel safe in the neighborhood?
Exhibition in Hildegardstraße, Leipzig
August 2019
Travelling exhibiton „Kein schöner ___ in dieser Zeit “ in Annaberg-Buchholz, Döbeln, Weißwasser, Hoyerswerda
August – September 2019
Exhibition in Eisenbahnstraße Leipzig
Februar 2021
Exhibition in Rabet Leipzig
Februar 2021
Exhibition and online programme as part of the biennial ART GO EAST ‘to collaborate’, SagArt e.V./online
May 2021
Exhibition as SATELLITE of the f/STOP Photo Festival, Salon of the Villa Plagwitz
June – July 2021
Crowdfunding
Thanks to the support of 120 people in crowdfunding, we were able to produce the second edition of the newspaper, which was published at the end of July 2020.