Kahvehane Kongresspark

“Kahvehane (Coffeehouse) Kongresspark”explores the question of transcultural relations and belonging through an artistic exploration of coffee and its cultural history. The project was commissioned as an urban art intervention by the 'Soho in Ottakring' Biennial in Vienna. Organic and fair-trade coffee, sponsored by Kaffee Alt Wien , was served free of charge to the public in specially designed cups and saucers, which were created at the Ceramics Research Centre at the University of Westminster. The designs reflect coffee’s shared multi-ethnic history and the globalization of coffee.The project includes an interactive lecture-performance exploring the many legends about the origins of coffee tracing its journey from Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula through the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) to Vienna and across the entire globe. While adopting a humorous take on the globalization of coffee, the performance sheds light on the history of colonialism and question the conditions of contemporary trade. The performance was written and performed in collaboration with Bharatanatyam artist and actor Shane Shambhu.

Sustainability and Community Networks

Community networks are IP-based computer networks that are operated by a community as a common good. In Europe, the most well-known community networks are Guifi in Catalonia, Freifunk in Berlin, Ninux in Italy, Funkfeuer in Vienna and the Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network in Greece. This paper deals with community networks as alternative forms of Internet access and alternative infrastructures and asks: What does sustainability and unsustainability mean in the context of community networks? What advantages do such networks have over conventional forms of Internet access and infrastructure provided by large telecommunications corporations? In addition what disadvantages do they face at the same time? This article provides a framework for thinking dialectically about the un/sustainability of community networks. It provides a framework of practical questions that can be asked when assessing power structures in the context of Internet infrastructures and access. It presents an overview of environmental, economic, political and cultural contradictions that community networks may face as well as a typology of questions that can be asked in order to identify such contradictions.