Raumkonflikte: One Place – Many Spatial Realities

Many perspectives on one place: A participatory photography project makes different experiences of space visible.

Public spaces are experienced very differently by different people. What is a passageway for some can be a place to stay, a retreat, a home, or a space of fear for others.

As part of the European Action Week, the Initiative Raumkonflikte explores public space around Hamburg Central Station from different social perspectives. Participants from different backgrounds receive a camera and, during the Action Week, document places, situations and moments of their own choosing that are relevant to their personal experience of space.

The action is based at Steintorplatz near Hamburg Central Station. During the Action Week, participants will independently explore and photograph public spaces in the surrounding area.

There are no predetermined “right” subjects to photograph. Participants can also reflect on why they chose a particular place and what it means to them. In this way, different perspectives on public space around Hamburg Central Station become visible.

The photographs will subsequently be developed and used as the basis for a collective documentation of these different perspectives. The project understands social sustainability also as a question of how different lived realities can be taken into account in the perception and shaping of shared spaces.

The aim is not to unify different perspectives, but to make their diversity visible and to explore new ways of seeing and understanding urban space.

Participation is facilitated through Instagram as well as through local organisations and trusted contacts, providing different ways to take part in the action.