Welcome to Tornitz 2005™

A footnote at the bottom of the billboard hints that the resettlement of all current inhabitants is but a slight inconvenience, necessary for the optimal use of the newly created high-quality living quarters within the theme-park. An increased quality of living and the creation of jobs are presented as the ultimate goals of this investment. In a condensed way the billboard blatantly comments on the intense interplay between culture and economy, wherever private investment results in a so called upgrading and gentrification of planning zones. The stereotypical reasoning, extrapolating the connection between investment, culturally attractive sites, the creation of jobs and the displacement of the original inhabitants, seems all the more absurd in this rural setting.

At the same time, the billboard suggests an intellectual trip in time: unrealistic as this scenario may seem, it’s not unimaginable. It could very well be the final result of the joint endeavours of the Werkleitz Gesellschaft and the town council, the aedequate political and economic context provided.