Heterotopia

I will generate and/or seek out visuals that index, represent, or illustrate the multiple ways in which the city of Austin, Texas can be said to function as a heterotopia; one that is simultaneously thriving and toxic. In one obvious sense, Austin is heterotopian in that it has a long established, popular reputation as a “weird”, young, and progressive oasis in a sea of Texas conservatism. But behind this veil of distinction there lies another, more insidious contradiction. Austin regularly tops the charts on the best US cities in which to live, work, and to visit, coming in at #1 on the US News and World Report’s list of Best Places to Live in the USA for the past three years. However, Austin is also one of the most segregated and socially stratified cities in the US. And as a result, Austin is the only city of its size in the US whose black and brown population has been in a steady and appreciable decline for decades. In this project, I will utilize this contradiction to explore the differential toxicity of place, working with local activists, scholars, and residents of Austin to look for those heterotopias, those other and/or “othered” spaces, that both enable and disturb Austin’s more utopian representations.