Signal vom Dachstein 2024

Exhibition and event series in the Dachstein region

The four-year Community Art Project in the Dachstein region serves as a bridge between art, science, and everyday life. Back in 2015, La Strada invited artists such as the Dutch sound researchers and composers Strijbos & Van Rijswijk to join alpinists from the region on the mountain. This extended exploration of the glacier, natural environment, and cultural history led to the Signal am Dachstein project, which began in 2021 with a landscape opera. The contributions of five artists have since deeply enriched the project: Marie-Theres Härtel, Christoph Huber, Katharina Pfennich, Christoph Szalay, and Stefanie Weberhofer, all of whom grew up in the region and are acutely aware of the changing climate. They are supported by mentors Toni Burger, Barbara Frischmuth, Peter Gruber, Bodo Hell, and Ernst Huber, who have a strong personal and artistic connection to this landscape.

With the audiovisual installation Signal vom Dachstein, La Strada is consolidating these artistic approaches at Schloss Trautenfels until November 3, 2024. The specially re-arranged landscape opera by Strijbos & Van Rijswijk, designed for the Marble Hall in the castle, offers an immersive experience along with recordings from the glacier. Naturally, the mountain itself serves as a central location, acting as an archive of natural and cultural history.

The exhibition at Schloss Trautenfels is accompanied by a variety of events throughout its duration. Through artistic contributions and discussions with a scientific approach, we will explore topics that were initially addressed during the "overtures" of the landscape opera in 2021: the glacier as a natural and cultural archive, biodiversity, forest and meadow, geology, meteorology, glaciology, and the touristic use of such a natural area.

Here you can register for the events

Exhibition
June 1 – November 3 | Schloss Trautenfels

Tourism and Infrastructure
November 2 | Bergstation Hunerkogel

Tourism and InfrastructureNovember 2 | Bergstation Hunerkogel

Meteorology and Climate
June 2 | Ramsau

Meteorology and ClimateJune 2 | Ramsau

Biodiversity
June 29 | Altaussee

BiodiversityJune 29 | Altaussee

Geology
Juli 6 | Weissenbach bei Haus

GeologyJuli 6 | Weissenbach bei Haus

Glaciology
September 22 | Seethalerhütte

GlaciologySeptember 22 | Seethalerhütte

Forest and Meadow
September 20 | Schloss Trautenfels

Forest and MeadowSeptember 20 | Schloss Trautenfels

Signal vom Dachstein

Signal vom Dachstein 2021 - 2024

"Signal from Dachstein" is a multi-year community art project in the Dachstein region, weaving together various artistic threads. In 2021, the project began during the summer solstice: Dutch artist duo Strijbos & Van Rijswijk collaborated with local artists to create a landscape opera, with its overtures already echoing in the valleys surrounding the Dachstein. This provided space for collective contemplation on the future of the climate-sensitive Alpine region.

Five of these local artists — Marie-Theres Härtel, Christoph Huber, Katharina Pfennich, Christoph Szalay, and Stefanie Weberhofer — will delve deeply into the development of their work within the context of climate change this year. They are also supported by mentors: five experienced artists — Toni Burger, Barbara Frischmuth, Peter Gruber, Bodo Hell, and Ernst Huber — who, like the artists of "Signal vom Dachstein", have close ties to the region, guiding them in their creative endeavors.

Exhibition Schloss Trautenfels 2024

The project "Signal from Dachstein" can be experienced from June 1st to November 3rd, 2024, through an audiovisual installation in the Marble Hall of Schloss Trautenfels. The special exhibition provides an overview of the diverse artistic engagement with the Dachstein region, always in direct exchange with science on topics such as meteorology, biodiversity, geology, glaciology, forests and pastures, as well as tourism and infrastructure. The works of the five regional artists will be presented in the exhibition, alongside the landscape opera from 2021, which Strijbos & Van Rijswik have specially rearranged for the Marble Hall. Together with video and sound recordings of the glacier, the installation offers an immersive experience.

The exhibition can be seen from June 2 until November 3 at Schloss Trautenfels.

Events in the region in 2024

In conjunction with the themes of the exhibition, from June to November 2024, there will be events held at various locations throughout the entire region. These events will delve deeper into the exhibition's themes from both artistic and scientific perspectives. Each event will feature musical and artistic performances followed by panel discussions, involving not only the artists but also experts from fields such as science, research, tourism, and more.

About the project

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Through the interdisciplinary collaboration of artists, experts, scientists, and stakeholders from tourism and regional development, "Signal from Dachstein" emerged as a cultural project that engages with the current living environment and cultural identity of people in the Dachstein region. In 2024, continuous exchange with cultural institutions and departments of municipalities, as well as collaboration with local artists, remain essential pillars of the project.

"Site-Related Artists"

The artists involved in the landscape opera Signal from Dachstein 2021 have close ties to the region surrounding the Dachstein. The five artists share a particularly sensitive artistic approach to exploring the relationship between humans and nature and bringing the region's own questions to the forefront of perception. Supported by La Strada as "site-related artists," they are accompanied in the further development of their artistic work. The examination of current societal developments, cultural history, and the impacts of climate change in the Dachstein region are central themes.

Long-Term Collaborations

On an international level, Signal from Dachstein marks the beginning of a series of projects that explore the theme of humans and nature in the context of climate change through artistic means. Long-term collaborations, as sought in the region surrounding the Dachstein, are also a focus of the network IN SITU, co-founded by La Strada and supported by the European Union. As part of the project phase "(UN)COMMON SPACES," artists will address questions of social change and transformation processes across Europe also this year.

For many years, La Strada has focused on community art projects that bring together international networks with regional initiatives to expand horizons and shift perspectives together. After all, creativity belongs not only on stage or in lecture halls but also in everyday life.

The 5 artists

Stefanie Weberhofer

... born in Schladming, she lives and works in Vienna as a film and media artist. Nevertheless, her native region has never let go of her thematically. She is involved in the wide-ranging field of experimental, independent handmade film. Her works are performed in the cinema as well as in exhibition contexts or performatively. In the context of Signal vom Dachstein, her work is concentrated around the Super8-camera. In a documentary, essayistic and experimental style, she deals with topics of the region such as snow farming, alpine herbs, the work of artists and writers active in the region. The special quality of the Super8-camera is that its technical characteristics always determine the formal framework of the works. Thus, there is a film cassette available for each topic - a series of films about the region is created, which can stand on their own as well as together showing a comprehensive picture of the region around the Dachstein.

Christoph Szalay

... was born in Graz and grew up in Upper Styria. From the dream of being a world champion and Olympic medalist in Nordic combination, he found his way to the arts. He studied first in Graz, later in Berlin, only to come back to Graz and finally to the Enns Valley. His artistic practice includes transdisciplinary work in different constellations and contexts. Currently, the focus is on the examination of endurance sports as both a practical and discursive framework for thinking about action in terms of empowerment, sustainability, softness, body awareness and landscape. In the context of Signal vom Dachstein, his focus is primarily on an examination of the concepts and realities of living and housing in the Enns Valley, or in other words: to whom do these landscapes and the supposedly good life in the countryside belong and apply? How can life be shaped and how can one afford it at all in a region between hyper-tourism, tradition, second homes and the attempt at sustainability?

Katharina Pfennich

. grew up in Ramsau am Dachstein, but is also at home in France, Great Britain and recently in Switzerland. She creates new sound worlds by exploring and manipulating her acoustic environment. She loves to capture the sounds of unusual environments. Among these unusual sound worlds is the Dachstein with its glacier, crevasses, caves and glacial streams. The awareness that we are probably the last generation to experience this glacier land- and soundscape in this form has inspired the idea of an acoustic glacier archive. Working closely at the interface of science and ecology, Katharina Pfennich explores the melting of glaciers and the changes in our natural sound space. From the collected recordings - from the surface of the glacier, from its crevasses and caves, but also from the interior of the mountain itself - she in turn composes new soundscapes that can be experienced as acoustic installations.

Christoph Huber

is a photographer, but also an amateur musician, a certified social worker and a trained letterpress printer. He lives in St. Martin/Grimming, over the summer on the Königreichalm on the Dachstein plateau. This environment, the region around the Dachstein, is his home, with which he is concerned in his artistic work - which concerns him. As part of Signal vom Dachstein, he is getting to the bottom of "Why?" and "How?" until 2024. Why does his homeland still move him, although he has already spent his whole life in it? How does the romanticized "ideal" world around the Dachstein present itself, how and why could it tip over into disaster? How are "Steinmandln" (stone arrangements for marking routes), the Dachstein mountains, tourism, the relationship between people and nature connected with this?

Marie-Theres Härtel

… grew up in Styria as a musician's child next to the dance floor, where she spent countless nights sleeping and absorbing Alpine folk music. As one of the pioneers of "new folk music", she frequently combines traditional Alpine music with jazz and other, international musical dialects. Until 2024, she will create a musical link between the musical dialects, localities and valleys of the Dachstein region as part of the project - inspired by hikes around the Dachstein and her family relationship with the region. Her compositions set individual stages of these hikes to music; musicians who themselves have a close connection to the region will make these compositions sound together with Marie-Theres. And thus also make the Dachstein sound again.

The Landscape Opera

& its Ouvertures 2021

At 2,995 meters, the Dachstein is the highest mountain in the regions of Styria and Upper Austria. And its glaciers will not disappear sometime in the distant future, but within the lifetime of our children. For these glaciers, a very special opera has been composed, the sounds of which will resonate deep into this unique archive of cultural and natural history. A unique event for the opening of La Strada 2021. At the summer solstice. At sunrise. The spatial sound installation by Jeroen Strijbos and Rob Van Rijswijk formed the climax of the landscape opera, but its overtures already began in the valleys. Several rope teams made their way from the valley to the glacier. Artists, scientists, alpinists and experts exchanged views on topics such as biodiversity, natural and cultural history, glaciers, climate change and geology.

Signal - EN
The Landscape Opera

The Landscape Opera

Overture 1 - EN
The Glacier

The Glacier

Overture 2 - EN
Biodiversity

Biodiversity

Overture 3 - EN
Forest & Pasture

Forest & Pasture

Overture 4 - EN
Geology

Geology

Overture 5 - EN
Meteorology

Meteorology

Overture 6 - EN
Glaciology

Glaciology

Overture 7 - EN
History and Development of the Touristic Infrastructure

History and Development of the Touristic Infrastructure

The project "Signal vom Dachstein" thrives on the interaction of all participants and partners from the entire region.

Sustainability is important to us. The printed La Strada products are produced climate neutrally by Medienfabrik Graz and together with ClimatePartner we support sustainable development in the Alpine region.

La Strada

25. Juli - 2. August 2025

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