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++++ The town-planning section of wemgehoertdiestadt is currently working on collecting revolutionary urban plans by artists who do not allow their imaginations to be hemmed in at all by criteria of feasibility. Nevertheless, these plans relate to real, existing buildings, urban localities, office blocks, etc.

Wemgehoertdiestadt was founded after the ‘media night’ in St. Pauli, a public event with which the Hamburg Senate wanted to improve the image of the media city in order to attract buyers for the sale of ‘Harbour City’. This night of 23 April 2001 was accompanied by an aggressive deployment of police to protect the property of a controversial investor. Pubs were surrounded by the police and closed; residents were not allowed to enter their homes and were beaten up.

Confronted with such brutality, artists, disk jockeys and musicians from the social environment of Poodle Club, Butt Club, Hafenstrasse and Red Flora joined together and analysed at press conferences and a discussion forum the role ascribed to the artistic
and subcultural milieu by business interests - to drain and dry out
run-down areas of the city as a precursor to gentrifying them.

Hamburger Dialog - that ’s gentrification!,2001.Video still