IDOL: Ideal is the best possible answer to a question, problem or situation. It meets all the needs, solves them in every respect and from the most diverse perspectives and thus becomes a role model.

In my opinion, this concept is characterized by a binarity of good and bad or right and wrong and by the associated subjective criteria.
But what about issues and questions that are difficult to classify in this binary pattern? What about areas that are considered unideal by the masses? Doesn‘t this concept of the ideal radically exclude many parts of society and allow for a very limited engagement with role models?

ANTIIDOL: The antiidol opposes the concept of the idol. It is about issues and questions that cannot have an idol because the unideal is deeply rooted in the question or the problem. What is difficult, fractured, unwanted or repressed by society, that is part of the identity and cannot and should not be purged of it. The anti-ideal is the question of a desirable state in a situation not seen as ideal. The anti-ideal is hidden, is excluded, is hushed up and has no typology and no from. The anti-ideal does not exist.
And yet, one should deal with it.

The chosen anti-idol for this discussion is street-sexwork in the public spaces of Zurich.
How does one approach this anti-idol and how can a space-creating person work with and within the anti-idol?
Through intensive observation at different times and places and through conversations with people who move in and around the antiidol, the antiidol and its identity(ies) will be gradually broken down.
It is about people who reject the binarity of evaluation in this field and who definitely have visions. People who speak of ideal clients, of ideal payment, of political situations, of the ideal sex worker and of ideal spaces, without denying the identity and above all the existence of the trade. It is about political decisions that have led to spatial measures for example in the case of the Strichplatz in Altstetten. It is about the ownership of the Langstrasse and about tenancy agreements that have a direct impact on sex workers. It is about the question of living and working space, their separation or in these cases mostly about the overlapping of it. And it is about the legal situation of streetprostitution in certain zones. It is about political and idealistic discussions in which all too often, values and the possible well-being of sex workers are discussed from above, instead of dealing with realistic, active measures in spaces that are really affected.

Langstrasse, as a vibrant, multi-layered place, has a fascinating and turbulent history, where sex work has always been an important part of its identity. With this attempt, I intend to shed light on the aspects of Langstrasse as a place of sex work. The social control and the resulting increased safety are significant advantages for sex work on Langstrasse. However, there are numerous challenges for sex workers, and the existing network on Langstrasse is geared more towards clients than sex workers. This network should be expanded to enable respectful interaction, in particular the separation of working and living space, and to reduce the pressure of financial exploitation of sex workers on Langstrasse (through excessive rents).
The two proposed projects should demonstrate a pragmatic, respectful and equal approach to the issue. They should not be seen as isolated solutions that improve the situation, but as part of a network and a way of thinking about street-sexwork in the midst of society.