The British artist and architect Martha Summers is ORTE's artist in residence at the beginning of 2025 and is working on a project that attempts to uncover possible similarities between the history of gender medicalization and the formalization of urban planning.

The starting point of the artistic approach is the comparison between the paternalistic urban planning system and state health care for trans people in Great Britain - in both areas, various criteria must be met in order to obtain authorization for changes to one's own home or body. 

These criteria contribute to the codification of traditional capitalist and cis-heterosexual social norms, as they favor familiar, simple classifications, whether in the architectural or gender field, over the still unknown and autonomous. During the residency in Krems, Martha Summers explored ideas of property and the common good, but also the interconnectedness of human and non-human bodies and systems. She explores themes such as autonomy, power and land and analyzes the importance of available financial resources for self-determined changes, whether to one's home, land or body. The project takes a historical look at the history of both the medicalization of gender and the legal formalization of urban planning and, through this synopsis, can show possible parallels and control mechanisms. At the same time, she will present current DIY and hacker methods that are practiced to circumvent the requirements of the planning and health systems.

When: Thu, 13.02.2025, 19.00 - 21.00 
Where: Association of Austrian Women Artists (VBKÖ)
Maysedergasse 2/28 (4th floor, elevator)
1010 Vienna

Participation in the event is free of charge.
Please register at office@orte-noe.at.