Cosima Terrasse is a french artist mainly active in Vienna. She has been working for the Social Design Studio of the University of Applied Arts Vienna since 2018. She is continuously developing new participatory art projects for public space, theaters and community spaces. She creates money-free casinos (Vienna Design Week- 2017), co-designs feminist motorcycling jackets in Hồ Chí Minh, choreographs performances for dogs of all talents (Brotfabrik Wien-2018), and performs the last unction for cars at a gas stations (KÖR-2020).

The underlying aim of her work, which appeared in various publications, is to explore the relationship between public and private interest, by shifting the perspective on seemingly mundane concerns.

Describe the main aspect of PlaceCity that you are most proud about?

My favorite aspect of the PlaceCity project (so far!) is the interviews we did with the clients of hairdressers. Upon noticing that the diversity of this district is mirrored in its hairdressers’ shop windows, we decided to use Floridsdorf’s hairdressers as our first contact to the residents. Hairdressers always address a specific clientele, and by contacting different shops, we got access to people that represent Floridsdorf’s diversity, but are usually hard to reach. With these people, we conducted long, in-depth interviews and took walks along their daily routes through the district as a first phase in the project. The interviews focused on how and why people move through the city, for what purposes and errands they leave their home and for which reasons they leave Floridsdorf.