The invisible city

Birgit Leibner & Claudia Garbe

What does Chemnitz sound, feel and smell like? The theatrical walks under the motto "The invisible city" prioritise the non-visual perception of Chemnitz. On each of the three city tours, sighted, visually impaired and blind people will get to know their city in a completely different way. Birgit Leibner is the project manager of Echo I Lot, Claudia Garbe and Ingolf Watzlaw are the artistic directors. Together with experts on the invisible, eleven people with and without visual impairments, Claudia Garbe has organised the tours. The State School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is also part of the collaboration. In the interview, they explain how they make the invisible city perceptible.

How did the idea for the "The Invisible City" project come about?
Claudia Garbe: The city walks are part of the overall "Echo I Lot" project. We have been researching the city for a year now, holding workshops and organising a public panel discussion. In previous projects, we have repeatedly worked with people with visual impairments. This gave us the idea that we could also do a project with visually impaired and blind people, as experts on the invisible, so to speak. We explored the city together. This has now resulted in the theatrical city walk and various sculptures. The aim is not to show the visual aspects of the city, but to explore with the audience what makes up the city beyond the visual: what haptics, what sounds, what smells, what stories describe the city?

Who can take part in the city walks?
Birgit Leibner: It's open to everyone, whether blind or sighted, in a wheelchair or on foot, everyone can take part.
Claudia Garbe: The city walks are open to everyone. Sighted people can close their eyes. Visually impaired and blind people experience a theatrical walk that is made just for them. The Echo I Lot project is open to everyone in all project phases.

What is the aim of the project with the city walk?
Claudia Garbe: We are interested in how we experience our city auditorily, haptically and with all our other senses. It's about sighted people trying to put aside their sense of sight. This is of course very difficult, but we invite everyone to do so. Blind people can support them with their experience. The visually impaired have a completely different view of things. That's very exciting. It's basically about exchanging ideas about what the non-visual world is - regardless of whether you are sighted or non-sighted.
Birgit Leibner: What feelings do I have in certain places? Do they scare me, do they make me happy - and to talk about it. The participants are a colourful mix: sighted, visually impaired, non-sighted and people with a different mother tongue - so there are different levels of translation. The participants take ALL Chemnitz residents on a journey to discover their city in a different way.

Which places were chosen for the route and why?
Claudia Garbe:As written on our flyer: 5523 steps, 3.9 kilometres, 6 places. So the audience knows that in advance. The exact locations and route are only revealed during the walk. At the beginning of the project, the participants were asked which places were closest to their hearts. We then formed groups that looked for material about the respective places, stories, sounds and atmospheres. I then developed and rehearsed the scenes together with the participants.

Echo sounder - this is a device for measuring water depths. An echo sounder works with invisible sound waves that make it possible to perceive the depth of the sea. It's the same with the project. It's not about perceiving the surface of a place, but what you can't see. The depth, the haptics, the sounds and smells - the Echolot project tries to make all of this perceptible in the city walk "The Invisible City".

How exactly do you make Chemnitz perceptible?
Claudia Garbe:In some places, the sound can capture the space, the acoustics mark the space, so to speak. But a lot can also happen through language. When the place is described, it is automatically visualised. In another place, on the other hand, the groups split up and experience different things. So there are many different methods to appeal to all the senses. Every place requires something different.
Birgit Leibner: We also offer a discussion at the end if the visitors want to talk about their different impressions.

What happens after the walks?
Claudia Garbe: When the participants are finished with the project, they continue to work on sculptures that will be set up at the same locations as the walk in the spring. In this way, the people of Chemnitz will retain something beyond the walk. The sculptures remain standing. They are first and foremost haptic sculptures.
Birgit Leibner: They are virtually invisible sculptures that you can touch.
Claudia Garbe: There will also be a final exhibition at which, among other things, an audio guide for the walk to the sculptures will be presented. Research results and photos will be exhibited and the project catalogue will be presented.
Birgit Leibner: It would be nice if projects were organised for the longer term, i.e. over a period of several years. But that requires an adjustment to the funding guidelines. This mainly concerns projects where the participants shape the project process. This is of course more difficult and time-consuming, but it is the only way to ensure long-term participation.

How can we change or increase the participation of all people in the city and urban space?
Birgit Leibner: Even if it is tedious and small-scale, we have to get away from inviting three hundred people to discuss a topic. You can only create real participation in the city where you also address people's interests.
Claudia Garbe: Participation has something to do with involvement. And you can only participate if you are part of the knowledge discourse. You can only do that if you spend time on it.
Birgit Leibner: Working together is important. If you look at the current situation in society, you get the impression that people are drifting further and further apart. Different life situations inevitably lead to different views.
We experienced this when we visited Osmar Osten's studio with two participants who are more interested in realist art themselves. They told me they would never have gone there on their own. And they were happy to have learnt something new. It doesn't have to become their culture and art in the end, but they have learnt that there are other forms of artistic expression.
You have to find the lowest common denominator and ignore people's social backgrounds. For example, if you bring together all the people who would like to have new playground equipment in the city centre, they have a common task. And by doing things together, it is easier to recognise that people actually want the same thing despite their different political or social backgrounds. In this case, a nice new play area for all children.
Claudia Garbe: That's also my view of the current situation. Communication needs space and accessibility. You have to break down the barriers both visually and linguistically, as everyone approaches things from a different perspective. There are so many barriers in political communication that make it difficult for people to access them and they then feel excluded. You have to give communication enough space and time so that participation is possible.

What do you want for the city in the future?
Birgit Leibner: The citizens are the city. You have to shape it and let them participate. Many things should be de-bureaucratised so that citizens don't lose the desire to tackle things themselves. You also have to allow failure. They are all attempts at design. Not all of them are perfect, of course, but the experience alone is worth it.
Claudia Garbe: You shouldn't patronise citizens. Design doesn't mean that you come to a question and answer session with politicians and then we design it, but participation means that you create the space for people to first formulate their ideas and then remain involved in the implementation. In the current situation, it would be an opportunity to give all citizens the chance to participate. It is then up to the citizens to seize this opportunity.