Please Love Austria
A controversial reality TV show that puts asylum seekers in a shipping container and allows the public to vote on who is the least popular and should be deported.
Initiator(s)
Christoph Schlingensief
Description
This project, which resembles the Big Brother reality show, was attended by 12 asylum-seekers, that have lived one week in a shipping container nearby the theatre in the center of Vienna. Every day, through a vote by phone or internet people could choose the two least popular people that were ejected and then deported to their native country. The project was carried out during a period a tense discussion in Austria around immigration and nationalism with Jorg Haider’s nationalist Austria People’s Freedom Party enjoying strong support.
Goals
To initiate a discussion concerning the stage-managed cynicism of TV and the cynicism of a society that judges asylum policy on the basis of its majority mandate.
Beneficial outcomes
The winner can look forward to a cash prize and the prospect, depending on the availability of volunteers, of Austrian citizenship through marriage.
Location
Austria
Users
Immigrants and asylum-seekers in Austria.
Maintained by
Vienna International Festival
Duration
2000
Category
Scientific
Pedagogical
Politics
Urban Development
Economy
Environment
Social
