Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria, 2001

AUTONOMOUS TERRITORY Public Action
Saturday, October 13th 2001 11a.m. - 7p.m.

"Non-plan methods could be culturally ruthless: by depriving peple of the reassurance of habitual spaces, experiences, symbols and ways of life, they would be forced to reinvent culture from scratch."
Simon Sadler

AUTONOMOUS TERRITORY
Autonomous Territory is a collaborative public action of the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of ContemporaryArt, RESSIDORF, a homeless settlement community in Graz and the art group Kunst://Abseits vom netz (KAVN). The project rise the questions about the relation between official urban planning condition and the architecure of urban minorities.
Autonomous Territory is a new research in the field of low-tech and non-planed architecture, practiced by homeless and artists, closely connected to everyday life and its transformation.
Non-plan reflects the concepts and practices of everyday life, practical utopia, game of communication and idea of participatory urban environment. These processes open possibilities for redefining institutional participation in creating of urban spaces.
Non-plan promote the notion of architecture as an event and situation.

Residorf settlement - history
This is a long-term project associated with the group ART://OUTSIDE THE NET until its completion in 2003. The first steps of joint artistic work with the fouder, Mrs. Linde Ressi, which began already in 1997/1998, was the research and inventory on-site, including the joint discussion of the possible changes in quality and improvement. The next step was a construction of a multi-functionalcommunication-center. This module is open public center within the existing structure of the village, creating a medial platform to reinforce the documentation of the completed research and the resulting changes in the living condition of the inhabitants and participants.

Public action
Public action Autonomous Territory by P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art
present a temporary occupied location in city centre in front of the provincial goverment of Styria. The location will serve as an information-communication spot. One day action will consists of public intervention, construction and street forum. The participants will discuss issues such as strategies (past and future) of the Ressidorf homeless urban settlement, minimal living space condition, parallel economies and self-organising in social minorities.

Location
City centre of Graz: Herrengasse.