Suburbia
Living the American Dream
Suburbia traces the history of an ideal life-style that – starting in the US suburbs – conquered the world and…
Location: Architekturzentrum Wien - Exhibition hall 2
Weronika Gęsicka: Untitled #52 (from the Traces series, 2015–2017).
For her Traces series, the Polish artist Weronika Gęsicka searched various online image databases for photos from the 1940s to the 1960s that reflect the American way of life of that time and manipulated the depicted idyll in an intuitive and playful manner.
© Photograph: Weronika Gęsicka and Galerie Jednostka, Warsaw
The dream of owning your own home with a garden, a pool and a car has spread throughout Europe — having begun in the American suburbs. We delve into the world of dreams and suburbs, and ask ourselves: What is actually true about this idealised image? And what are the alternatives? Because the social and ecological consequences of this housing model, such as land consumption, the sealing of the soil and social isolation, can no longer be denied. We visit the exhibition ‘Suburbia. Living the American Dream’ and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different types of housing. Based on the students’ respective experiences, we develop a model neighbourhood from these individual dream homes with a focus on the art of living together.
