Rivka Saltiel | Curator Forum Stadtpark

Rivka Saltiel, * 1991 in Graz, is an urban researcher and social geographer. Her work focuses on urban policy and socio-theoretical issues and challenges from a feminist perspective.

She studied European Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology (in Graz, Paris, and Vienna) as well as Urban Studies (in Brussels, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Madrid) and earned her PhD in Sustainable Urban and Regional Development. In her current research at the University of Graz, Saltiel examines encounters and interactions between unfamiliar urban residents and addresses questions of social justice, societal participation, social movements, urban infrastructures of care and provision, and processes of societal transformation.

Since 2023, she has been leading the City & Space section at FORUM Stadtpark Graz. In her curatorial work, she focuses on everyday political engagement with pressing issues, questions, and conflicts in various formats with the aim of initiating and continuing urban policy negotiations and discussions. These include topics such as urban development projects, (collective) forms of social reproduction in the city, the financialization and precarization of housing and the resulting processes of displacement, patriarchal violence, colonial entanglements, as well as social movements and protests in the city (see the FORUM Stadtpark program).

Rivka Saltiel has worked in scholarly-artistic projects in collaboration with arts and cultural initiatives in Styria (Radio Helsinki, Rostfest, neighborhood offices, Styria Vitalis, Culture Year 2020, EU School of Participation, Training Program for Creative Practitioners interested in Community Art and Anthropology in the City with Uni-T). Additionally, she performs as a singer in various musical formations on international stages.