The City. Between Skylines and Latrines

What is your favorite city?

Marienberg or New York? Athens or Rome? Vienna or Wuppertal?

You can definitely argue a lot about cities. But what makes a city a city? There are as many answers as there are cities: temple, town hall, wall and market, high skylines and deep street canyons, fast internet or living together in a small space are just a few examples.

Cities can be experienced as places of diversity, creativity and concentration, but also of conflicts. One thing is sure: the city is and will remain one of the most spectacular achievements of mankind.

Therefore, on April 1, 2021, smac opened the exhibition “The City. Between skylines and the latrines ”. It was about the city as a cross-cultural phenomenon and a central place in complex societies. The starting point is the Saxon urban archaeology, which reveals layers and traces that often shape our cities to this day. Exhibits came from cities in Mesopotamia, classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times and maybe even from the future.

In addition, five citizens shed light on very personal aspects of the city. Their exhibits were selected as part of a call for participation.