On July 3rd, our first FAKE SPACE event kicked off at HU Campus North – a series of studies and interventions that address inclusion and how to deal with discrimination in everyday work and study life.

The initiative emerged from a seminar on public space in the winter semester 2023/24. Over several weeks, we discussed concepts of public space, consensus spaces, counter-publics and safe spaces. In the summer semester, we attempted to translate these theoretical approaches into practice.
Our intensive examination of our own experiences in dealing with diversity ultimately gave rise to FAKE SPACE – a deliberate reversal of the safe space concept.

With FAKE SPACE, we activate and make counterpublic spaces visible. Instead of retreating, we want to create visibility: experiences of discrimination should not remain in protected niches, but should be brought into the public eye.
We do not understand public space as a closed safe space, but as an open space for discussion where encounters, friction and exchange are possible. The question is how regulations can actually be implemented – and how an equal dialogue can be created in which listeners become speakers and speakers become listeners.

In recent years, terms such as accessibility have become firmly established in the discourse on public