Under Construction

On construction sites the world is altered in a very solid, material way. This is not the whole story, of course: If someone builds a house, a railroad or any other thing, there is more under construction than the mere object itself. With spade and excavator contemporary imaginations, visions and historical concepts are equally reshaped or renewed. Interventions into the physical landscape are always accompanied by interventions into the imaginary landscape.In the present volume eleven authors from seven European countries examine the discursive alongside the performative construction of reality when things are being built. Construction sites are ideal objects for a cultural studies approach, as they show that the world not so much has a certain state but that the world is constantly being rebuilt, reshaped and reimagined. von Heine, Eike-Christian