Paper short abstract:

The talk is about the possibilities of creating reality with and through art in liminal spaces and how the intercultural living together in urban spaces is and can be (re-)arranged in the context of power relationships.

Paper long abstract:

The talk is about the possibilities of creating reality with and through art in liminal spaces and how the intercultural living together in urban spaces is and can be (re-)arranged in the context of power relationships. Using the city of Ulm in southern Germany as an example and following the approach of interpreting the whole city as a stage with different actors, it will be examined how performative, creative, artistic and resistant acts in everyday life may open liminal spaces. The role of the so-called „Kunst- und Kulturvermittlung“ in connection with the significance of sensual perceptions will be taken into account. Understanding intercultural and creative everyday practices as artistic and meaningful encounters, the common historically grown concept of art mediation in German institutional and educational contexts is questioned. The agency and possibilities of (actual) participation of transcultural players in a globalized migration society will be investigated. Further the transformational power of back-and-forth translations interacting with others in intercultural situations of coincidence, rupture, irritation and inconsistency concerning dominant regimes of knowledge will be discussed. In this connection the role of the researcher himself/herself - his/her physical presence and sensual perception – will be highlighted.