With the retrospective exhibition, RIGHT, TO THE CITY, the Landesgalerie Linz presents the most extensive show of photo-based works by Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber.
In their analytic and research-oriented practice, Bitter & Weber follow the process of change and effects of modernization and globalization on cities, architecture, and the production of urban space.

In projects like Caracas, Hecho en Venezuela“, „We Declare: Spaces of Housing“, Vancouver, or „Autogestion or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade“
Bitter & Weber trace the impact and uneven effects of global neoliberal urbanism as it shapes the contemporary urban conditions of living and working.
Negotiating the rhetoric of crisis and failure that surrounds the concepts of utopias, the welfare state, and socialist cities, Bitter & Weber focus on exemplary urban situations in cities like Belgrade, Vancouver, Paris, Bucharest, or Caracas to investigate the relationships between inhabitants and the city, between citizens and the state, and between urban space and everyday life.
Within their works, the recent struggles and demands that emerge from cities and neighbourhoods are read through Henri Lefebvre’s enduring concepts of “the right to the city” and “autogestion” (workers’ self-management). Bitter & Weber’s works represent the traces of the appropriation, the failure, and the potential of these concepts as well as the ways that these ideas were brought to life in cities.
At the same time, their artistic work negotiates and reflects upon the creation of social spaces through spatial and representational practices.


“Versorger Moderne“ by Jochen Becker

Altering the shape of a retrospective show, Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber invited the Berlin critic and curator Jochen Becker to contribution to their current exhibition: His spatial commentary on “The Provider Modernism“ (Versorger Moderne) includes works by Ella Bergmann-Michel, Heidi Schatzl and Michael Zinganel and deals with the models of Red Vienna, New Frankfurt, and Hitler Buildings in Linz.


Artist’s book: "Autogestion or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade"

Bitter & Weber have also produced an artist’s book: "Autogestion or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade" on the occasion of this exhibition. This publication is based on an unpublished 1986 text by Lefebvre that was part of a competition to design an urban plan for New Belgrade with the architects Serge Renaudie and Pierre Guilbaud.
The book includes texts from Ljiljana Blagojevic, Zoran Eric, Klaus Ronneberger, and Neil Smith.

Edited by Urban Subjects, US (Sabine Bitter, Jeff Derksen, Helmut Weber)
Published by Fillip, Vancouver und
Sternberg Press, Berlin, 2009

Sabine Bitter / Helmut Weber
"Right, to the City"
A comprehensive catalogue of the exhibition is published by Edition Fotohof, Salzburg 2009. The publication includes texts by Reinhard Braun, Martin Hochleitner, Jeff Derksen, Michael Zinganel, Jochen Becker, Clint Burnham, Candice Hopkins, Cecily Nicholson, Heidi Schatzl.
German/English, 192 pages,
ISBN: 978-3-902675-32-3, Euro 25.00
Edition Fotohof, Salzburg, 2009