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Franz
Niegelhell
Snow
sticks in town and at the beginning of summer seems strange at first sight.
Andreas Lehner has fixed up a system of hanging and standing snow sticks
which are usually used in winter as a visual form of orientation for snow
covered country roads. The square is closed off for buses and private
cars and its spatial dimensions are defined. The snow sticks are used
here as a form of orientation as well. In comparison to snowed up areas,
here, instead of on the main traffic roads in a landscape, the reveal
their importance in the social system of the town itself and the desire
to create changes.The installation covers the main square of the town
which is mainly used as a bus stop. For a period of 16 days the bus stop
will be moved. The main square is thereby open for other uses. One part
of the main square is taken up by street cafes run by Oberwart restaurateurs.
Previously there were no street cafes in the town centre. The appropriate
applications were always rejected by the city council.
The installation consisting of 3.500 snow sticks leads away from the main
square, following a route the inhabitants hardly use, one kilometre through
Oberwart. It leads across the so-called Rotundì where cattle auctions
used to take place, on to the Badplatzì and then back to the square.
This area and its surrounding buildings used to play an important economic
role for Oberwart but these days they have become, despite their prominent
position, a kind of blind spot for the inhabitants. It is architecturally
interesting and the Rotundì, a very attractive property, forms
a further town centre. (Andreas Lehner).
If one knows the background information the installation is no longer
strange, but rather points out the social and historical connections in
a revealing manner. It is, so to speak, a visual guiding system for the
embeddedness of these connections and their social forms (in daily life)
within a continuum of time and space and how they fit into the specific
lived reality of this community. The public space can be experienced as
a social construction through this intervention. A few of the historic
milestones of this construction are addressed, e. g. the changes in the
relevance of the village and communication centre, the main square over
the years. The same applies to the changes in economic transactions which
are obviously noticeable in the "Rotunde"loss of relevance.
This area would be ideal for many communal activities because of its position
and suitable buildings.
Every form of historical thinking
reveals the roots of the present by establishing the causes for the conditions
which exist in a space-time continuum. Lehner does this with the help
of the Oberwart population and through his work processes, but he also
goes one step further. "A temporary vacuum is created that can
be filled with life, but it can also be considered as an experiment in
redefining the square and which could possible fail if the newly created
space is not acceptet" (Lehner) One can only hope the former
will be the case.
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