Page - 104 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

104 siting futurity / Wahlkampfzirkus ’98/Wahlkampftournee/ Wahldebakel ’98” n.d.). While they may not have succeeded in their stated goal, the wave of unflattering press generated by the event may well have had something to do with Kohl and his Christian Demo- crats [Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, CDU] be- ing roundly defeated in the election. Schlingensief followed up his bathing action by switching his attention from the unemployed to the homeless. From October 4 to 10, 1998, less than two weeks after the German election on September 27, Chance 2000 für Graz took place, a much more major action than the play he had staged in the city three years previously.4 In the town’s main square, eight pillars were built around the existing Mariensäule [Column of the Holy Mary]. Homeless people were invited to sit on the pillars, and the one who managed to remain there the longest won 70,000 schil- lings, around 5,000 Euro.5 Additionally, every day at 5:30pm, Schlingensief appeared and threw 7,000 schillings in twenty- schilling bills (about 1.50 Euro each) at passersby, who scram- bled for them in front of the homeless sitting on the pillars. The history of the site added to the piquancy of the performance in ways Schlingensief did not make mention or use of. Also called the Türkensäule [Turkish Column], the column at the Iron Gate is one of Graz’s most visible public monuments. Erected in 1670, it commemorates the victory of Habsburg troops in the Bat- tle of Szentgotthárd/Mogersdorf/Monošter on August 1, 1664, which came to be celebrated as a great Christian victory against 4 The full title of the action was 7 Tage Entsorgung für Graz — Künstler gegen Menschenrechte [7 Days of Waste Disposal for Graz — Artists Against Hu- man Rights]. The following account is taken from (“Christoph Schlingen- sief, Chance 2000 für Graz” 1998). 5 As mentioned in the chapter on Planet Ottakring, the Schilling was Aus- tria’s currency between 1925 and 1938 and from the end of World War II until the Euro was introduced in 1999. The fixed exchange rate when the Euro was introduced in Austria was €1 = 13.7603 schilling. Although the Euro became the official currency of Austria in 1999, Euro coins and notes were not introduced until 2002.