"Mariainsel" – A new neighborhood? An art island? Real estate?

For the past eight years, since the island platform was renovated at the initiative of the municipality, this prominent island in the public space has been available for public use. It is therefore time to reflect on and discuss how "Mariainsel" is perceived within its actual cultural context. In this context, three provocative perspectives on the local socio-political scope for action appear discursively permissible and meaningful: as a new neighborhood? – as an art island? – as real estate?

Karl Brkic will tentatively develop Mariainsel with his 1:24 scale models of Fürstenfeld’s old town.

Mariainsel was created on the Feistritz River in 2018 by Graz-born artist Alfredo Barsuglia. It was named after the most common female first name in the region: Maria. The approximately 25 m² land reclamation was created by separating a spit of land via the so-called "Franzkanal", which separates the island from the Fürstenfeld mainland. At the same time, it was designated as a new district with official legal status by a unanimous decision of the municipal council.

Building on an island is the opposite of settling into a building, because an island is neither a place of escape nor a retreat - and certainly not a private space.