Fluc 2, Music and Art Club, Transformation of a Pedestrian Underpass

In a central urban site at Vienna's Praterstern, the culture club and artscape Fluc_2 uses a pedestrian underpass, which connects the train station with the Prater amusement park, as a three-dimensional building site. The idea came up when the first provisional facility of the legendary self-administrated cultural initiative Fluc_1 had to make way for the construction of the new train station Wien Nord. The owner of the property, the municipality of Vienna, supported the conversion of the underpass that had originally been scheduled for closure. The concept of the new structure is committed to the performative practice of the Fluc community, which is characterized by situational redesign. First an L-shaped group of containers was placed above the steps leading down to the pedestrian underpass. The tunnel below the five-lane traffic circus functioned as an improvised workshop and continuously supplied new connecting joints that could allow the structure to be continued at both its exits until becoming itself an underground events hall, known as Fluc Wanne. The container ensemble is occupied by reef-like structures creating differentiated visual relations and acoustic qualities and is further combined with changing bricolage elements. From the start the organisers have understood Fluc & the name is derived from 'fluctuated rooms' & as a project space. The intelligent recycling of everyday objects and the sophisticated use of gaffer tape create a state of permanent conversion. Extensive networks of supporters provide a constant flow of usable materials. The precision in Fluc is to not to be found in the technical but in the 'social detail' and in a communal atmospheric competence. The shape of the Fluc not subordinate to any imperative of the whole. Its disorderly quality gives the arrangement of the pieces a temporary feeling and is conveyed as a momentary record of a storage process.