2020, Waltendorf, Graz

3rd World Congress of the Missing Things

Parish St.Paul/ Eisteichsiedlung, July 31-Aug.1, 2021

Program: see here

Direct Urbanism
Production of Desires
Cultural Spaces
Participation

a project by transparadiso
project partner: Michael Petrowitsch

in collaboration with Parish St.Paul, Eisteichsiedlung/ Waltendorf

From July 31-Aug.1, 2021, transparadiso transformed the car park of St. Paul’s Parish (Eisteichsiedlung estate in Waltendorf) into an informal congress centre for the Third World Congress of the Missing Things (in cooperation with St. Paul’s Parish/ Priest Paul Scheichenberger).

This non-hierarchical congress questions what we usually consider "normal": The attributions of "normal" that seem to be based on a social consensus, however, discredit anything deviant as "non-normal", and thus as "non-doable".
Instead, at the Third World Congress of the Missing Things, transparadiso is looking for visions beyond the seemingly possible, advocating for a socially and community-oriented society and urban planning. In particular, the Congress wants to give space to poetic aspects that otherwise have little place in our society, which is characterised by efficiency and "self-optimisation" - beyond pragmatism and directly functional aspects.

The missing things that we have collected in the process of preparing the congress since spring 2020 were discussed in the Third World Congress of the Missing Things: Thus, the residents shaped the topics of this inclusive congress, which operated beyond the usual scientific categories, and rather wants to give space to that knowledge and desires that are missing in our efficiency-oriented society:
_What do you wish for as future "normality", in your neighbourhood, your district, in Europe, in society?
_What values for an inclusive society would you like to propose as a new "normality"?
_What poetic moments are missing in everyday life?

In order to stimulate these wishes and to uncover hidden poetic moments in Waltendorf anew, dérives (> see Situationists; with the expertise of Sigrid Verhovsek, among others) and performances by the „chapel boys/girls“ (directed by Edith Draxl) were carried out during the congress. They enabled a direct experience to promote the discussion of "non-functional" missing things on topics such as "keeping open" or "new rituals for community".

For the congress transparadiso transformed the car park of St.Paul parish with the BambooKaza as foldable canopies into an informal congress centre, which will be available for further use by the community/district after the congress to discuss conflict issues.

The website Missing Things collects the Missing Things for the Third World Congress of the Missing Things, which - just like the First World Congress of the Missing Things (Baltimore/ USA, 2014) and the Second World Non-Congress of the Missing Things (Vienna-Aspern Seestadt, 2014) - discusses in particular values for the community/ for social coexistence and challenges the residents to take individual responsibility for society and (as in Baltimore) to give a public sphere in particular to those who receive no attention in public political life.


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