ATTENTION / GENEVA
URBAN INTERVENTION

ATTENTION / GENEVA 

Documentation  . 2009

Public performance / urban intervention  

Photo documentation

An urban appropriation employing caution tape to temporarily claim public space, questioning access, ownership, and the regulatory frameworks that govern collective environments.

Attention / Geneva unfolds as a spatial intervention in which caution tape is strategically placed to delineate and claim a section of public space without authorization. The intervention takes place near the statue commemorating the assassination of Empress Elisabeth of Austria—a historically laden location where the work intersects questions of collective memory with contemporary issues of access and control. By marking approximately 2,500 meters of territory, the performance creates a temporary boundary that makes visible the invisible structures regulating public space.

The work is part of Entekhabi's ongoing Parasite Architecture project, initiated in 2001, which uses caution tape as a symbolic medium to challenge notions of ownership and presence. Across multiple iterations—titled "No Exits," "Cautions," "Attention," and "Hazard"—the artist exposes spatial divisions and the persistence of "otherness" within public environments. His personal background as a migrant informs this exploration, connecting the marking of space with broader questions about migration, marginalization, and the boundaries that shape collective experience.

PROJECT CONTEXT

Curated by Madeleine Amsler & Véronique Yersin

Organized by Forde Independent art space