Representative? You can have it.

2022
A new census in Germany. It asks how many people live in Germany and how they live and work. The aim of the questionnaire is to record living conditions in order to adapt federal, state and local planning to the needs identified.

A Problem:
People who do not have permanent housing, access to work or education, who face various disadvantages, even discrimination, have no opportunity in the census environment to provide information about their specific situations and experiences. What prevents people from living well and safely and contributing to society cannot be covered by census questions.

An Answer:
In our Shadow Census project, committed actors from social groups with multiple barriers to access take matters into their own hands. They ask their peers and themselves how they feel about housing, work, public and cultural life and organise testimonies.

Methods of Diversity:
The exchange of different living conditions and experiences produces images – in the studios of S27, designed narrative spaces are created full of silhouettes, puppets and shadow figures. They are both reflection and artistic medium for self-questioning and dialogue with others.

A tent is a journey and an arrival, adventure and security, temporary shelter. A tent is a refuge. Instead of being used as a projection screen for social discourse, the young people from our refugium learning workshops let their own stories and wishes dance in a tent’s canopy. //Photos: Luis Krummenacher
The house on the Straße der Pariser Kommune is linked to many memories. For many it stands for home, for community, it was a meeting place – and now it is unfortunately being demolished. Together with the design collective criticalform, former residents spent two days talking, drawing, modelling and thinking about what a perfect (living) space would look like and what it would have to be able to do. How do we want to live? //Photos: Luis Krummenacher, 3D-scans: criticalform
Photos: Nele Düll
Photos: Luis Krummenacher

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