WHAT IS THE MAIN IDEA OF THE PROJECT?

The switch from socialism to capitalism has generated different transformation processes. In general terms, we can classify these processes as expressions of two variants of capitalism: a 'civilised capitalism' modelled on the West that is characterised by administrative regulation; and a 'wild capitalism' typical of the transformation taking place in the former 'East Bloc'.

How are privatisation and social transformation reflected in the visual aspects of post-socialist cityscapes and which particular interest groups are reorganising public space? Which types of urban space are the variant forms of capitalism spawning and what does the future hold?

'Socialism is victorious' – for several years this slogan stood in bright neon letters on the Pirna Gate, a residential complex with a restaurant and bar located in the heart of Dresden. It was dismantled overnight at the end of the 1980s and now survives solely in memory, for instance, in Via Lewandowsky’s contribution to the project 'Heimat Moderne' in Leipzig. Although the visual features of cities have changed dramatically in the course of the transformation from socialism to the new social system, it is barely conceivable that a slogan proclaiming 'capitalism is victorious' would flash across a building today and promote the new economic system. Nevertheless, the system change is clearly visible in new buildings, advertising, the reconstruction of historical buildings, and the tourist marketing of urban spaces.

Both cities and local authorities in Sofia and Dresden found themselves, and continue to find themselves, in a process that is generally described as 'structural transformation'. In Dresden, strict regulations and specifications for urban planning, hand in hand with efforts by local authorities and private entrepreneurs to exploit the city’s tourist potential, have led to a focus on the 'historical heritage' and a homogeneous, streamlined 'image' of a 'Baroque' old city centre, disregarding the dissonances of the real historical fabric of the architecture, which ranges from nineteenth-century historicism to the socialist modernism of the twentieth century.

The extreme opposite can be observed in how Sofia’s city centre has developed: here what one might call 'wild' capitalism reigns, or at any rate this is where the barely regulated priorities of a great array of parties interested in using urban space have come into their own, ranging from pioneer capitalists in the form of wild advertising spaces, food stalls and kiosks, to the mirrored-glass architecture of large international investors.

How are post-socialist cities changing in terms of their architecture and utilisation concepts under the primacy of economic competition and privatisation? What types of conspicuous visibility and dissimilarities in the cityscape are generated by economic processes? How are social transformation processes reflected in a city’s appearance and which interests lead to a new ordering of public spaces? These are the initial questions that the curatorial teams in Dresden and Sofia are pursuing for the duration of their activities.

Corresponding to the real conditions observable in Dresden and Sofia, these questions have necessarily led to different outcomes and theses – and to an urgent need for extensive discussion and controversies, which actually makes up the creative friction to be generated by the Wild Capital project developed in Dresden in dialogue with the protagonists from Sofia.

Whereas in Sofia mafia-like machinations and informal economies determine in equal measure the face of the city and contribute to the sense of powerlessness pervading the critical culture scene, in Dresden the excessive 'order' and the systematic blending out of historical and social development processes through stringent 'image politics' are generating an increasing discontent amongst critical voices.

To what extent is it possible, however, to effectively differentiate the social and visual manifestations of capitalism according to the categories of 'wild' or 'civilised'? Informal economies, tourist marketing, monument protection, civil society potential – or its absence – and access to the media are some of the results of the political development processes between German unification and EU accession negotiations.

Wild Capital examines, on the one hand, the urban structures of capital, and, on the other, understands the strategies and methods pursued by those involved in the workshops and other contributions as the 'wild' capital of civil society, excluded from the official planning processes.

WHAT DOES THE PROJECT INCLUDE?

Wild Capital is the title of a project taking place in late summer and winter 2005 in Dresden, a project based on encounters between Sofia and Dresden. It owes its origin to two initiatives that emerged independently of one another: the Visual Seminar in Bulgaria, a project of the Institute of Contemporary Art in cooperation with the Center for Advanced Study, both located in Sofia, devoted to plotting and analysing the changes in the cityscape during the transition from socialism to capitalism; and a group of artists, curators, and other cultural participants from Germany and western Europe who have worked on the social changes to the urban space in Dresden for a number of years (including the project DRESDENPostplatz), and continue to be active in the circle around the Kunsthaus Dresden. The decisive factor for the ensuing cooperation with the project Wild Capital was the encounter between both projects within the framework of 'relations'.

Workshops, lectures and an international symposium was held at the World Trade Center Dresden. Artists, cultural theorists and sociologists examined these different manifestations of capitalism and formed the first project's first phase (in August 2005). Invigorated by these events, an exhibition in the Kunsthaus Dresden and artistic interventions in the city presented the results in spring 2006. The list of events that took place in the framework of the Wild Capital priject can be seen here.

HOW IS THE PROJECT FINANCED?

The project was funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.