In Los Angeles, where the phrase „Homelessness is just a paycheck away“ is all too well known, the divide between the „haves and have-nots“ is ever-present. While the city is best known for its Hollywood image, it is estimated that more than 60,000 individuals experience homelessness in LA County on any given night.  Among these are also students and working-class individuals, who have to live in their cars because they cannot afford to pay rent.

Worlds of Homelessness is a project of the Goethe-Institut that offers an interdisciplinary engagement with the issue of homelessness and its many related themes such as the gap between rich and poor, participation, inequality, gentrification, racism, and migration. Worlds of Homelessness seeks to bring together local and international artists, architects, scholars, and others in an effort to create a platform to share ideas, thoughts and to present their work, as well as examining different ways of engagement with the many questions related to the topic.

The project is developed in cooperation with the Los Angeles Poverty Department, who, for decades has worked with Skid Row artists, the Thomas Mann House, the architecture and design school SCI-Arc, the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin as well as other partners.

The event series including discussions, music performances, and film screenings takes place from October 22 – 27, 2019 in Los Angeles at the Skid Row Museum, Navel, and SCI-Arc, and culminates with the Festival for All Skid Row Artists from October 26. – 27. 2019 in Skid Row.