The Erste Bank ExtraVALUE Art Recognition Award, endowed with 1.500 euros and the realization of a solo exhibition at das weisse haus in Vienna at the end of September 2018 will be awarded to Julia Gaisbacher.
Her reflections on how Belgrade’s cityscape is transformed on a socio-political scale by a real estate development project in form of her ongoing series “One Day You Will Miss Me” convinced the Erste Bank ExtraVALUE Award’s jury. The jury’s statement reads:

“… Above all, the well-founded research, which is based on critical media reports and discussions with supporters of the protest movement, was particularly impressive. The project uses Belgrade as an example to deal with the corrupt real estate business, in which quite often – and all over the world – members of the government are involved. Moreover, it points to prevailing asymmetries when such large-scale projects occur for an emerging middle class and investors from abroad, while socially disadvantaged urban residents are forcibly pushed out to the fringes.”

In a text created during a joint visit to Belgrade the author Barbi Markovic also took up the theme. “Eagle Hills Vertigo” was published together with pictures by Julia Gaisbacher in Lichtungen, a literature and art magazine, and on ZEIT ONLINE’s Freitext. At the moment recent works from the series can be seen at the Akademie Graz.
With “One Day You Will Miss Me” Julia Gaisbacher focuses on a process exemplary for an expanding practice of socially segregated city development fueled by international investments. Her ongoing research and documentation capture processes usually hidden by the long timescales they take to unfold.