With: Cultural Studies expert Prof. Susanne Hauser, Architect Prof. Bettina Götz, Artist Erik Göngrich, Architectural Critic Claus Käpplinger and Ludloff Ludloff Architekten BDA

The perception of a growing inequality in our society is increasingly a part of political discourse. Social participation is equated here with the need for accessibility to education, to the labour market, and to consumption. In this discourse, the need for aesthetic forms beyond the bare necessities is missing – as if one could be thought without the other. In our image-based world, images of the social have long since shifted in quality, and are now understood in terms of image politics. However, participation in any form can only be credible if it radically implements its claim: that an aesthetic of the social is the prerequisite for all individual and collective action. We discuss perception and a changed image policy.