eat the rich

The European Quarter as "a Surely-Clean district given a high polish", the neighbouring Gutleutviertel as an "Eat the Rich theme park of cruel reality". What happens if place-making strategies - a favourite tool of creators of urban event worlds - are applied subversively? What will be the relationship between the future European Quarter and its neighbours? artsuppport - a group of three artists and New Entrepreneurs - thought about a vision for the future.

"Of course we are aware of what is going to happen in the next five to ten years over there [planned Europa Viertel]. Such things are indeed very appetizing for us. We will have to see what we make of it, but I could imagine that Gutleutviertel will become a sort of mirror image to that over there. Something like in the movie Eat The Rich. Yonder high-polish facades, expensive office space, classical 'Urban Entertainment' and hither the appeal of cruel reality "
(Christoph Pollak, artsuppport, Interview April 2001).

The future vision developed by artsuppport - three artists working in Frankfurt's Gutleutviertel - for their quarter is oriented on a movie that combines social criticism and extremely black humour. The story centres on waiter Jerry who is thrown out of the posh-decadent "gourmet restaurant" Bastards. In his homeless plight he becomes an avenger of the poor, enforces dole money from the labour exchange by force of arms and founds a rebel group with which he wants to smash capitalism. Jerry and his mates conquer the restaurant, kill the owners and some of the guests and re-open it under another name - Eat The Rich. Already the first night seems to be a great success since the rich take the place to be the dernier crie because they are insulted and beaten up there and allegedly served human meat which is naturally taken to be a joke. But when it leaks that they really get served human meat there and have just eaten the prime minister the hunt for Jerry and his mates begins...

If one takes the image "Eat the Rich" (possibly not literally but still) serious one can decipher a subversive application of so-called place making strategies. "Place making" is a term that is gladly quoted in current debates about the contemporary city. The understanding that nowadays places do obviously no longer constitute themselves from a unity of geography, history and local culture (Buzzword: Globalisation) at first led to asserting that the places would vanish (Marc Augé). "Place making" is a response to this development. A targeted staging of stories and themes for places shall provide the latter with a new identity that is no longer rooted in a specific local culture. The results are known: Theme parks, amusement centres, Disneyworld. But what will happen if those strategies are subversively applied? What will happen when the Gutleut becomes an "Eat-the-Rich theme park of cruel reality"? Can "reality" with its unequal social distribution be a theme park? And most importantly: what would it look like?

artsuppport I More
Art From International
Artists I
abbreviation: M.A.F.I.A.

artsuppport has been in existence since July 2000. The group is made up of Frenchman Charles (26) and brothers Christoph (28) and Stefan (27), two semi-Frenchmen. The three of them were active in the 1980s in the partially illegal, subcultural graffiti and break-dance scene, a fact taken playfully up by the abbreviation M.A.F.I.A. in its subtitle.

They founded a firm with the aim of professionalising and detaching from the "underground move" their creative work that recently had been largely in the legal area (e.g. commissioned graffiti). Combined with this was the hope that they could finally economically revalorise their activities with which they had FUN for years, all the more so since they suspected a demand for their "products".

Their product range stretches from flyers via magazines and posters to Website designing. Clients are, beside Frankfurt's Gutleutmarkt, a major pharmacy corporation which uses artsuppport comics to explain its products. The three young men do not see themselves as advertising experts or graphics designers but artists. The services offered by them create an interface between the visual "underground move" codes and the business interests of established firms which harbours the risk of a sell-out of their subcultural past. artsuppport terms the services offered as "artistic support ". artsuppport, as the name says. "suppport" with three Ps, or as they say - very much in the style of a PR slogan -"with one strong letter more".

Tabouli <Salad, originating from North Africa>

Gutleutviertel. The northern boundary of Gutleutviertel is formed by the Main Station track system, the eastern is the main road Baseler Straße - Friedensbrücke, the western the CHP and the autobahn, and the southern Westhafenbetriebe port operations and river Main.

Its proximity to city centre, bank district, trade fair grounds, station and the favourable access route to the airport make this quarter interesting and lucrative for investors. This became evident, e.g., in the late 1980s during the famous investors' wrangling for the Campanile planned as the highest tower block in Europe south of the main station. Beside legal flaws, the complicated German neighbourhood legislation in conjunction with committed Guleut resident Hannelore Kraus prevented the construction of this office and hotel tower. Kraus - next-door neighbour of the planned property - refused to sign - despite a DEM million offer (!) - the statutory neighbour approval. The Campanile was never built.

Today some 6,000 are living in Gutleutviertel (The percentage of foreigners is, after Bahnhofsviertel (63%), with 52% in Gutleut the second-highest in Frankfurt.

In addition, there is an above-average number of young people in Gutleut but also an above-average number of unemployed, public assistance receivers, jobbers, extended families as well as low- or unskilled workers. The day-to-day infrastructure is extremely poor: There is not a single supermarket in the entire quarter and but one general practitioner.

artsuppport selected Gutleutviertel despite its infrastructural disadvantages very deliberately as its "site". The deciding factor, besides the affordable rent for the business premises and the Frankfurt zip code ("global business interests"), was a particular quality of life, characterised by very many small groceries run by North African immigrants: "I have lived six years of my life in Arab countries. When I walk through Gutleutviertel today I go from shop to shop and I am glad every two metres. I simply feel well in this culture which I like so much and have learned to appreciate ..."
(Christoph Pollak, artsuppport, Interview April 2001).

A touch of big-city atmosphere.

Sushi <Japanese: combination of fish and rice with a garnish of fine ingredients>

Europa Viertel (in the view of project developer vivico): "The core of Europa Viertel will be the UEC (Urban Entertainment Centre). It embodies the modern version of a European market square - big-city atmosphere and vibrant borough culture unite to form a pulsating mixture.

It will essentially consist of two tower blocks and an oval market square. On a gross floorspace of 267,000 sqm it will accommodate apartments, designer boutiques, cafés, bars and restaurants, wellness and fitness centres, cinemas, music clubs, discotheques and a hotel.

The directly adjacent trade fair grounds, a five-minute walk to the main station and the bank district, 15 km to the airport and the connection to the autobahn and public transport ensure short walks and fast access" (www.vivico.de/de/
Projekte/uec.htm)

Then play the game. The below Pac Man game visualises the Culture Jamming Version of "eat the rich". Culture Jamming bases on Guy Debord's idea of "Détournement", an image, a message or an object which is removed from its original context and receives in a new context another (mostly opposing) meaning.

Based on the flash version of www.flashplanet.com