For this special call, KÖR is inviting not only artists but also architects, urban designers, urban planners, and cultural practitioners to participate in shaping and revitalizing the urban public space with temporary projects that will help to bring out its social qualities. The current priority is to investigate planned urban expansion areas as potential fields of artistic activity in order to become actively involved in the design of public space at an early stage.

Several urban development areas of different characters will be the focus of attention in the coming years in Vienna. They differ in their architecture, social structure, historical-geographical status, and location within the greater Vienna metropolitan area. What they have in common is that they are in a state of reawakening, of ongoing change, displaying an interim status between lofty plans and an uncertain future, in conjunction with the harsh realities of life on a construction site.

The lakeside district of Vienna now known under the English brand “aspern Seestadt” is one such planning zone. With a current population of 6,350, this area is forecast to grow into a residential and commercial district for more than 20,000 people by 2028. For further information see: https://www.aspern-seestadt.at/. KÖR has already called for proposals for the design of a public square here as well as realizing several temporary projects.

With our Open Call, we would now like to give anyone interested the opportunity to submit a proposal for a temporary art project in the period from Summer 2018 to Autumn 2019 that reacts to this special urban context.

Two open fields on the outskirts of the future city quarter, known as “Bus-Linse” and “Schneeerlebniswelt” (Snow Adventure World), are available for temporary interventions, installations, and actions (see attached plan with dimensions). The use of these areas is subject to the consent of their owner. Easily accessible by public transport but relatively remote from the finished development, these two fields exemplify the whole dilemma of art intervening in planning: The area seems vast, but it is not available – so that its emptiness is a temporal state whose outcome is difficult to predict.

The challenge is therefore to realize an artistically demanding work here with present-day impact and perhaps also an influence on future possibilities.

Project submissions for “The Open Field” may be able to answer the following questions:

- What attracts residents to “the open field” at the edge of their new quarter?

- What questions do nature, space, leisure activities, or other issues raise here?

- What forms can art take in this interim realm?

- What sustainable desires should be formulated for the continued existence of the “open field”?