ABSTRACT
Dealing with ‘tourists’ proves to be extremely ambivalent. The question arises why it is difficult to come to terms with this social figure. From a performance-theoretical perspective, ‘tourists’ are determined by assuming their role. Essentially, their tourism practices appear not only to be both the source of tourism; they are also the reason why tourism is rejected. To approach this phenomenon along with its inconsistencies, several field experiments were conducted during the summer months of 2015 and 2016 in Berlin. Performative interventions created scenic irritations of the interplay between urban everyday life and (new) urban tourism and thus also challenged existing stereotypes and resentments. This chapter presents the method and the set-up of the interventions as well as reflecting on the main results. The specific methodological approach not only releases new potentials for exploring tourism-based conflicts. It also raises general questions about how tourists are perceived in the urban space context.
