Citizens' exhibition - "Mensch Görlitz!"

As the project team at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, we hope our initiative will contribute to the social inclusion of all people in Görlitz. This effort is motivated by the ongoing challenges in social cohesion within the “City of Europe” Görlitz, stemming from the increasing diversity of its population in recent years. In doing so, we also aim to acknowledge potential prejudices related to the rise in migration—as part of social change—and to provide an opportunity for dialogue. To this end, we are organizing a creative and participatory community exhibition in various public spaces to reach as many people as possible in an accessible way and to create spaces for interaction.

We want to give Görlitz residents—in all their diversity—a voice through the interviews we conduct (young and older people, people with immigrant backgrounds, and those from various social backgrounds) and encourage them to participate. The exhibition will explore dreams, hopes, fears, favorite places, and ideas of home.

Beyond the exhibition itself, we aim to create additional spaces for interaction among Görlitz residents through opening and closing events, which we will facilitate with an educational focus. Visitors are also actively involved through the opportunity to become part of the exhibition themselves. Participation is therefore not only the goal but also the subject of the exhibition, which has been open since November 2019. Sustainability is further ensured through the distribution of accompanying booklets featuring the content of the community exhibition. Our project aims to raise awareness of prejudice and everyday racism without focusing on people’s origins. The concept of inclusion takes center stage. As a pioneering border city, Görlitz serves as a model and role model for the entire Lausitz region, which is why we place great importance on the exhibition’s mobility within the region, which is affected by structural change.

The exhibition was organized as part of a project study by fourth- and fifth-semester Social Work students.