Common cities
Mapping shared memories and diverse identities in the city of Stuttgart.
KulturRegion Stuttgart, Germany
August – October 2024 (work in progress)
The Trailer Collective
in collaboration with
Irasema Fernández (Visual Artist)
For every inhabitant there is a city. Sometimes that city has elements in common with others; at other times they are completely different. We want to talk about those common cities that inhabit us, about that urban and symbolic cartography full of memories, questions and personal objects that, at the same time, can resonate in other people.
This artistic gesture explores Stuttgart’s cultural diversity through the stories of people from different backgrounds and their intimate connections to the city.
What cartographies emerge when you start to feel a city as your own? What connections exist between integration and the city? What personal maps do we want to share? Which places tell your story? How does our city communicate with the city of others? Let’s talk about how we can draw these diverse and merged cities.
By exploring the physical and symbolic spaces of Stuttgart and the stories of the project participants, we aim to connect realities, build bridges, and observe the shared urbanity of the present, and possibly the urbanity of the future. Our focus will be on concepts like integration, inclusion, sense of belonging, the notion of home and resilience.
We explored various geographies, creating both physical and emotional maps that reflect the city’s ethnic and cultural diversity, demonstrating how Stuttgart is shaped by all its inhabitants.
In this way, we explore new approaches to inhabiting and expressing the city from a broader perspective. By embedding personal memories into urban spaces, we construct narratives that serve as tools for reflection, dialogue and action. This allows Stuttgart to be rediscovered through diverse perspectives, desires and concerns, creating a body of alternative ways to understand the reality that surrounds us and that we, in turn, inhabit.
This project is realized with the support of the KulturRegion Stuttgart 2024.
