Syntopian Vagabond, Votivpark Vienna, April 2013, in cooperation with the Department of Sociology at the University of Vienna
The SYNTOPIAN VAGABOND stays temporarily in certain places, usually directly on the street edge in the city. It is a media lens, a mobile spatial hybrid and consists of a walk-in, completely transparent case on wheels. When opened, it takes on a shape between a cube (2 x 2.5 x 2 m), a wall (4.5 m) and a passage.
The transparent shell of the SYNTOPIAN VAGABOND is marked by black GOBOTAGS. The markings are reminiscent of stickers of “warning bird silhouettes” that protect against the invisibility of transparent glass surfaces. Combined with a black GOBOTAG artifact, it acts as a 360° lens that focuses attention on the interstitial space: it attracts, distracts and stops.
The construction of the SYNTOPIAN VAGABOND accommodates local actions in direct connection at eye level. In accordance with the syntopic approach (»syn-« and »topos«), it acts as a medium through which evidence of everything (im)possible comes together in one place and access to transdisciplinary research is created. In this way, it is connected to people, disciplines, institutions, projects and places. It withdraws from a place when it begins to become a ‘place’ itself.
The SYNTOPIAN VAGABOND is a work structure by the fine artist MICHAELA ROTSCH. In its transdisciplinary orientation, it enters into COOPERATION with institutions from art and science and acts as a framework structure of projects by other players.