Franz Schubert: Architecture For Cats

Franz Schubert lives in Vienna and Lower Austria. The artists works with digital media and 3D computer animation. His artistic practice reflects the visual frameworks of media environments and the ambiguities inherent in everyday perceptions and media structures.

During his three months stay in Summer 2023 as artist in residence of the Austrian BMKÖS (Ministry for Arts and Culture, Public administration and Sports) in Istanbul he drifted Istanbul in psychogeographical strolls in a correspondence with concepts developed by Situationist artist Guy Debord. Given that the layers of human habitation are thickest in cities, the project of psychogeography is to peel these away and reveal what is hidden, and what lies between the fissures of history.

Schuberts interest focused on the architectural structures made for Cats mainly in the districts Beyoğlu, and Şişli. Their diversity reflects the heterogenous structure of the Inner City around Taksim Square. The artist sketched the Cat Houses interpreting the different styles and forms of rapid urban growth in the metropol.

In his scetchbook the artists notes: “The city is home to numerous stray cats, many of which live in specially designed architecture exclusively for cats.”

In a serial of works Franz Schubert is experimenting with the concept of original and copy especially questioning the value of objects accumulated by its fame, pleading for a liberal handling of exchange of goods, knowledge and patterns. The copy of a Lois-Vuitton-Bag gets manufactered as a mass product in Turkey. Schubert rebuilt it during his residency to an exclusive Cat-residency.

With his practice, the artist became part of the cities pace by incorporating his concept into the architecture for Cats in Istanbul. He emphasizes that the caretaking of stray cats is a mechanism for creating a common sense absent in the political sphere. However, cat-residencies are portable, and they undergo a vivid exchange by people carrying them from one neighborhood to the other once in awhile. Some are anchored to the ground to withstand replacement. The artist left his Louis-Vuitton-Cat-House without any safeguards, free for exchange.