Twentysix Houses Along Waldeggstrasse

Following the footsteps of Ed Ruscha

The publication cites Ed Ruscha's iconic artist's book TWENTYSIX GASOLINE STATIONS from 1963, and thus spans an arc from the automobile culture of the American Sixties to our own European present, questioning the direction in which we wish to shape this development.

A hairdresser, an Asian market, signs upon signs, curtains, and--behind these--apartments. At first glance, a street like any other, but something irritates. Finally, you realize that the images depict only vacancies. The buildings on Waldeggstrasse have been unoccupied for ten years, and it will be almost another ten years before the "gap" is closed to form an inner-city expressway axis. The images by the Austrian photo artist Otto Hainzl link the dramaturgy of social life with questions about urban development concepts.