Reading “Unter Tag”: Literature in the underground car park

On 27 June, the Contipark underground car park "Andreas-Hofer-Platz" once again became a cultural venue. The Grazer Autorinnen Autorenvereinigung (GAV) had invited to a reading "Unter Tag" with musical accompaniment.

Since 2001, GAV has carried out station readings at least once a year. For example, there have already been readings on a road closed to traffic or in the hustle and bustle of the Kaiser-Josefs market. Accordingly, the underground car park was deliberately chosen as the venue for the event. For the authors' assembly in Graz, it is a so-called "non-place". The term, coined by the French anthropologist Marc Augé, refers to areas in predominantly urban areas that are used mono-functionally and lack history and identity. These are often transit areas such as railway stations, motorways or airports. An underground car park is also such a transit point: a place of transit, not there to linger - except, of course, for the cars parked there.

Founded in Graz in 1973, the association is active in both the organisation of literary events and in cultural policy. With currently almost 700 members, it is the strongest association of the umbrella association "Interessensgemeinschaft Österreichischer Autorinnen Autoren".

About two and a half years ago Contipark had entered the Graz park market for the first time. In addition to the underground car park and the associated parking lot at Andreas Hofer Platz, the company operates two other parking facilities in the Styrian provincial capital: the underground car park "Lendplatz" in the district of Lend and the underground car park "Dominikanerkloster" in the district of Gries.