WELTSTADT

Everyone carries them within: places tied to particular memories, fears and hopes. The exhibition »Weltstadt – Memory and Future of Refugees, in Model Form« showed model houses built by people who had come to Germany from countries in Africa and the Near and Middle East. Across some 500 square metres of exhibition space, homes, schools, places of worship and shops were presented as a walkable cityscape — a "Weltstadt" (world city). The structures, made of cardboard, wood and all kinds of found materials, reflect the biographies of their builders, with all their ruptures and new beginnings. Around 150 people gave concrete form to their own very personal memories and visions in the WELTSTADT exhibition by rebuilding such places as model houses. At the end of the project, the exhibition finally went on tour: together with the Jugendtheaterwerkstätten Spandau, the Görlitz collective K5, and young people and residents from Spandau, Görlitz and the Polish town of Zgorzelec, the installation gained new districts and architecture as well as a soundscape and staged inner life, and — through the shared model-building — sparked a dialogue between city and countryside. Our film portrays this unique project and its many participants.