UrbanLegend.eu is a new method to capture cities in their current context. The project seeks for cross-cultural communication at a low threshold level. The method is simple: citizens are encouraged to formulate a question in one city for citizens in another city. In turn, these questions are answered in the other city, establishing a ping-pong conversation between citizens (and their cities).
As a project with strong participatory components, urbanLegend.eu motivates people in public space to share their knowledge. A large variety of questions posed in Vienna and Amsterdam demonstrated the interest and knowledge of the participants. In exchange, inhabitants of the cities in focus, Skopje and Tirana, were asked to answer these questions. These answers offer glimpses into the inner fabric of a city, into the urban legends.
Both the questions and answers have been documented as video messages. They will be placed on an interactive map, through which one can navigate. This urban diary makes it possible to get a close view of a city and its inhabitants such as Tirana without actually being physically present.


Projekteinschätzung

Nowadays, cities are being advertised as companies and city marketing is far beyond the authentic character of a city. UrbanLegend.eu is our way to show the poetic and undisguised beauty of a city and its inhabitants. Besides presenting a final project, the question answer method aims to establish virtual contacts within Europe, especially between strongly contrasting cities. It encourages self-reflection and helps to diminish prejudice.
Intentionally, ONORTHODOX takes advantage of various disciplines and methods, which derive from art, sociology and anthropology
We see ourselves as independent cultural researchers. Our approaches are interdisciplinary, and our aim is to work on topics within the urban sphere. A strong artistically visual media component, which opens the topic to a broad public, is essential to us. The process of transforming the consumer into a producer and displaying the outcomes motivates us. The outcomes offer both spontaneous reflections and deep impressions and insights.


Biografie/Selbstdarstellung

We are all facing urban challenges and it is up to us citizens to find a way to deal with it. Taking common matters into our own hands is what we believe in. ONORTHODOX is a participatory platform, formed by a young established group of urban researchers from different fields and countries.
We are aiming at setting up interdisciplinary research teams and working on a transdisciplinary basis. ONORTHODOX provides a stage that functions as a breeding place for citizens’ demands. Our responsibility is to honor the collected knowledge and to present it in an artistic and challenging way.

So far our platforms took place in >
Shanghai: wide & close [2007] – Amsterdam: MyPLACE, manipulating meanings [2008-2009] – Istanbul: Eyes on|of Tarlabasi [2010] – Wien: Das sensitive Auge [2010] – Amsterdam, Skopje, Tirana, Vienna: urbanLegend [2011-2012], Bratislava: transformation of CDB [2012].

urbanlegend.eu