Vielheit. Stories from the postmigrant society

Starting from South Tyrol, the exhibition Vielheit. explores living together in postmigrant societies: How do preferences, habits, perceptions, and relationships change when people from different cultural, social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds share a place? Where and how does what is new become visible? What possibilities and requirements are derived from this? With contributions from local and international artists, the exhibition explores what it means to think social and cultural change beyond simple conceptions of belonging.

Vielheit. [multiplicity] is a possible term for this. It denotes a large number of things that are not uniform in themselves - in other words, a diversity that, despite the differences, still needs to be thought of together. Mark Terkessidis also uses the term in this sense in his reflections on postmigrant society. Multiplicity, Terkessidis argues, is not limited to the subject of migration, but "migration constitutes an essential element of that multiplicity." More generally, it is about plurality as the basis of social coexistence. Migration appears here as a dynamic process that affects all areas of society.

The artistic contributions to the exhibition Vielheit. invite us to reflect on multiplicity as a space of possibility, but also as a challenge. The focus is not least on what Regina Römhild has called "heterotopic moments of conviviality": those many small events of successful togetherness that counter the populist stigmatization of migration and its consequences. As an integral part of the project, the mediation and event program invites participants to discuss the future of social coexistence in the region together with artists, scholars, and activists.