THE BERBERS

Open market Naschmarkt, Vienna, Wiener Festwochen, 2010

With the participation of the Berber Family

This intervention at Vienna’s famous open-air market recounted a history of a Greek family and their market stall. For half a year the stall of the Berber family was covered with stories handwritten on blackboards. These, narrated by the family members themselves, depicted the family’s daily life against its changing social and political backgrounds over the period of 50 years. The work paid tribute to migrants’ contributions to the Viennese everyday culture. It attracted audiences of the Wiener Festwochen, and invited them to read, buy and and interact. 

Read More

The Berber Family has been running their stall at Vienna’s best known open-air market, the Naschmarkt, since 1969. These days they sell first-rate fruit and vegetables sourced from all over Europe and the world, while at one time they sold imported Greek and Turkish provisions, along with homemade specialties produced by the mother of the family. The Berbers’ roots go back to a Greek island off the coast of Turkey that was depopulated during the 20th century due to the Greek-Turkish war and the severe political problems that followed. The Berbers, like many other Greek families from the island, became political refugees during the crisis of the 1960s, which is how they ended up in Vienna. The Berber family occupies a special place in the history of the Naschmarkt and in the history of Viennese cuisine in general. In early 1970, the father of the family, together with two Austrian partners, friends of his, organized the first imports of olives, olive oil and feta cheese to Vienna. He is now retired, spending most of his time back on the island, while his sons are now running the stall.

The artistic intervention linked buyers and visitors to the market through stories and memories recounted by the family members: recollections about their stall, their family life, their past and future, and about the market itself. Through hand-written texts, photographs and single channel video, the stall was temporarily transformed into a tribute to the contribution of foreign workers (Gastarbeiter) to the Viennese table and Austrian society in general while vividly commemorating the family’s own particular history within the wider context of migration.

The intervention was produced as part of the Wiener Festwochen festival and was on view from June to October 2010.

RELATED 
Wiener Festwochen  Festwochen am Nashmarkt

CREDITS
The Berbers intervention was commissioned by the Wiener Festwochen, exhibition Im Paradiesgarten nto the City in 2010. Cuator: Birgit Lurz. Project team and installation: Kristina Leko, David Smithson. Handwritings: Iva Gregorić, Kristina Leko. Potos: Kristina Leko.

GENRE&FORMATS
Project: research; temporary intervention in public and semi-public space; oral history; participatory-documentary art project; project with specific social groups. Artwork/s and artifacts: interviews; texts, hand-written text panels; photographs, video.