| heightened risk sharpens the alertness and increases the prepard- ness to notice the other person. The less structures a person is accompanied by on a
journey the stronger he/she looks for referen- ce points in the
surroundings. When nothing is self-evident any longer every person
looks for places to rest, to eat or to sleep - established places
normally. Without the foothold that habit offers ideal conditions exist
for the desired behaviour in 'shared space' where alertness for space
and the other traffic is demanded from everybody. 5. Reality
HALTERS IN TRAFFIC Up until today the attention of travellers may still be taken as a given sufficient condition, though it has be assumed that this is about to disappear because more and more often travellers in ve- hicles and accommodations come across stereotype surroundings that blur individual orientation and make knowledge of a place obsolete. Another convenience is given by the electronic halters by which a growing number of travellers is accompanied. When people are on the move they are wired at the same time. First it was the animals like ochsen and donkey that humans yoked for work and that refused to obey the will of humans. The farmers and nomads broke their instincts by means of chains, reins and nose rings to force them to their goals. Here lies an unappreciated sub-history of the various communication systems by means of which nowadays people and goods are guided automatically by programs to goals. Therefor the question arises whose goals are headed to anyways? Was it enough so far to keep eyes and ears alert, to approach passers-by and to read a city map or simply follow one's nose to find one's way so nowadays a GPS provides the direction. Alone because traffic has to be kept fluent is it not opportune to simply stop in the middle of the lane to ask for one's way. Furthermore not everywhere one will come across pedestrians or where they |
are in great numbers their paths have been cut from those of the car-drivers.
Indeed just that is the introduction of common streets of shared space supposed to change; but it seems that under the given conditions this is becoming a nostalgic - and indeed in the cities a direfully limited - performance which possibly would like to com- pensate the direct communication diminished by electronic hal- ters. When it actually should be less about locomotion but about common use of property. In the meantime GPS hasn't only suspended interpersonal com- munication but has also disturbed trust in god that accompanied one when hitting the road in times of carriage traffic. Its place take automated guiding processes to which not only money is sacrificed. Now many do have such a blue lustrous image in their car and it seems as if this tiny travelling altar has replaced the Christophorus plaque adhered to the dashboard. The magical items in traffic make it palpable that trust in electronics has taken over from belief in metaphysical powers. This change in leadership was prepared by the symbolics of guiding systems which were introduced about a century ago by means of traffic sign and have become common knowledge. Accordingly a driving licence test moves over the bearing of confirmation (religious ritual) in-so-far as traffic has taken the significance of religion. There is evidence for this that knowledge about traffic rules and meaning of traffic signs has pushed aside knowledge of religious regulation stan- dards as well as associated sign- and symbol language. It is not only St.Andrew's cross which as an attribute of a saint - that is the medium of his execution - has made it directly to the crossroads between rail and road traffic, it is also inofficial traffic signs like the crosses that remind of accident spots with traffic deaths along the roads. These road casualties have taken the place of pre-historic human sacrifices. As a result it has come to a renewal of bloody rituals which are practiced nowadays in accident and transplantations surgery. |
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Vernissage |
| This exhibition is the 03. for the year project shared space 2009 of the EINSTELLUNGSRAUM e.V. | |
| Supported by the department for culture, sports and media of Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg and district office Wandsbek | |