Located right next to the Wachau Road, the Georg Prunner Square in Emmersdorf provided the perfect setting for our presentation of the first results of our Road Studies. The public space served us as an exhibition space and open-air cinema until the evening hours. At the central town square we were able to present our micro-exhibition and short films.
Four folders illustrating the creation, design and perception of the Wachau Road were presented, exhibited and distributed to the visitors. Aerial images of the Wachau showed traffic routes as an integral part of the landscape. The exhibition opened up new perspectives on the everyday traffic route. For some visitors, memories of the construction period of the Wachau Road were awakened. Over bread and wine, visitors shared their personal connection to the Wachau Road with us.
At nightfall, the short films were screened: phantom rides with experimental recording techniques allowed us to experience the relationship between time, speed and landscape perception. Another film contribution recorded in slow motion the overtourism in the Wachau Region. Herbert Ursprunger, the landscape architect of Wachau Road, also laid out and designed Georg Prunner Square in the 1950s. An interview with him was presented as a short film. The informative and entertaining film document was complemented by artistically reworked photos. Although the exhibition was only of short duration, we have left our mark.
We would like to thank Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Niederösterreich (Public Art Lower Austria) and in particular Johanna Reiner for complementing our exhibition with the Inventour-Bus. Special thanks to the staff and Richard Hochratner, mayor of the municipality of Emmersdorf, for their great support and hospitality.
Winter trip on the Wachau Railway
/in Railway Studies/by Daniela LehnerDuring the winter months, the Wachau Railway stops operating. For our winter visit, we thus rely on the tourist programme: on weekends during Advent, the train runs on a reduced route from Krems to Dürnstein. Our journey aims to document what can be seen of the landscape in the dark and especially in motion. We film and take photos from the moving train. The reflections in the windows of the train intensify as dusk falls. Inside and outside merge. The panorama of the left overlaps with the one of the right, creating fascinating kaleidoscopic effects. The ten-minute train ride takes us through various sections: vast vineyards and urban density, narrow valleys with mesh-covered cliffs, planted but leafless stretches reveal new views of the Danube valley. In Dürnstein, we encounter fewer visitors than expected. Just a couple of groups stroll through the illuminated, car-free town centre, while most of them are at the Christmas market. The journey back to Krems is like travelling in a sealed-off capsule. Inside a brightly lit railcar, we pass through the dark landscape and can only catch a few points of light in the surrounding area.
Wachau Routes – exhibition next to the Wachau Road
/in Events/by Daniela LehnerLocated right next to the Wachau Road, the Georg Prunner Square in Emmersdorf provided the perfect setting for our presentation of the first results of our Road Studies. The public space served us as an exhibition space and open-air cinema until the evening hours. At the central town square we were able to present our micro-exhibition and short films.
Four folders illustrating the creation, design and perception of the Wachau Road were presented, exhibited and distributed to the visitors. Aerial images of the Wachau showed traffic routes as an integral part of the landscape. The exhibition opened up new perspectives on the everyday traffic route. For some visitors, memories of the construction period of the Wachau Road were awakened. Over bread and wine, visitors shared their personal connection to the Wachau Road with us.
At nightfall, the short films were screened: phantom rides with experimental recording techniques allowed us to experience the relationship between time, speed and landscape perception. Another film contribution recorded in slow motion the overtourism in the Wachau Region. Herbert Ursprunger, the landscape architect of Wachau Road, also laid out and designed Georg Prunner Square in the 1950s. An interview with him was presented as a short film. The informative and entertaining film document was complemented by artistically reworked photos. Although the exhibition was only of short duration, we have left our mark.
We would like to thank Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Niederösterreich (Public Art Lower Austria) and in particular Johanna Reiner for complementing our exhibition with the Inventour-Bus. Special thanks to the staff and Richard Hochratner, mayor of the municipality of Emmersdorf, for their great support and hospitality.
Invitation: Short films and micro exhibition in Emmersdorf
/in Events/by TeamWhat is the image of the Wachau that corresponds to the contemporary understanding of landscape? This is the question the interdisciplinary team is asking itself from the perspectives of art and landscape architecture in a four-year research project. Last year, the Wachaustraße was put under the microscope. The first results will be presented in Emmersdorf.
Friday, October 6, 2023, 5 p.m.
Georg Prunner Square, Emmersdorf
from 18:30 Short films
Road from the Danube
/in Road Studies/by Daniela LehnerAbout fifty percent of the 35 km long Wachaustrasse is located close to the left bank of the Danube. During its construction in the 1950s, the media referred to the road as the “Danube-bank-runway” or “road on the stream”. To take a closer look at this relationship between the road and the Danube, we board a liner.
The ship is our steadily moving camera platform. The camera is pointed sideways into the distance and records the passing landscape. This opens up new views of the integration of the traffic routes and infrastructure buildings in the Wachau. From our position on the ship, the road is often only visible due to the moving cars. The retaining walls of the road were made of local stone as irregularly layered masonry with narrow joints. “Due to the types of stone used, a colour tone of the walls was achieved that blends harmoniously into the landscape and in no way contrasts with the old vineyard walls” (Die niederösterreichische Illustrierte, September 1958, p.5). The greening of the riverbank is another component of the landscape integration of the road. Seen from the river perspective, the planting of the stone berms with white willow, silver poplar, sea-buckthorn, and grey alder is most noticeable.
Students draw in the Wachau
/in Road Studies/by Daniela LehnerTo broaden our perspectives on traffic routes, we invited students from the University of Arts Linz and landscape architecture students from BOKU University to draw together in the Wachau region. Focusing on the Wachau road, we travelled by bus from Melk to Krems, stopping at selected stations. The western entrance at Emmersdorf was drawn as well as the road design in St. Michael. With the drawing excursion we followed in the footsteps of the Wachau painters, who have travelled to Wachau since the 19th century and depicted it artistically. We also positioned ourselves at the ‘painter’s corner’ on the Danube promenade to capture the old town of Dürnstein and the busy traffic of tourists and cyclists on the towpath. In the studio of Iris Andraschek and Hubert Lobnig we then reflected with the students on their drawings, impressions and observations.
Apricot blossom in the Wachau region
/in Road Studies/by Daniela LehnerDesigned as a tourist route in the 1950s, the Wachau Road passes through a variety of landscapes. On the route between Emmersdorf and Krems, one drives through sections with open views of the Danube, dense riparian forests or orchards and vineyards. Initially, the road was designed for a maximum speed of 60 km/h, thus the landscape could be appreciated from the car. Today, cars rush past us at speeds of 100 km/h as we walk from Aggsbach-Markt to Spitz and explore the Wachau region at the time of the apricot blossom. A car brakes next to us and stops at the verge. The driver quickly takes a few photos of the blossoming trees and continues the journey. We, in contrast, continue our tour at walking pace and listen to the chirping of the birds, the buzzing of the bees and have a chat with the winegrowers. From Spitz to Krems, we and many other visitors use the free bus service offered by the Wachau municipalities during the apricot blossom.
‘When you’re young, you’re convinced.’ Herbert Ursprunger
/in General, Road Studies/by Roland TuschHerbert Ursprunger was young and convinced when he worked on planning the landscape integration of the Wachau road in the late 1950s. Just before his ninetieth birthday, we met him for an interview in his home in Vienna. In her artistic work, Iris Andraschek is interested in the stories behind the people. In conversation with Herbert Ursprunger, we learnt how it came about that he was commissioned with the Wachau road project at the age of 22. Film and photo recordings were made during the conversation. Iris Andraschek has artistically processed photos from the early years of Wachau road and combined that with clips from the detailed interview into a short film.
More information: https://www.wachauroutes.at/en/road-studies/
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL7wH_rXsv8
10 good, old pear trees, preserve!
/in Road Studies/by Daniela LehnerWe came across this request on a hand-drawn preliminary design by the garden architects Viktor Mödlhammer and Josef Oskar Wladar from 1957 in the course of our research in the archives of the Lower Austrian Road Administration in Krems. We spent a whole day at the road maintenance department sighting the planning documents for the new construction of the Wachau Road in the 1950s. In about 20 folders, we discovered technical plans for the road alignment, cross-sections, standard profiles, and technical reports. We were particularly excited to find the preliminary landscape design, as it impressively illustrates the design approach and integration of the existing landscape into the road project.
Advisory Board Meeting
/in General/by Roland TuschWith its knowledge and local expertise, the advisory board provides important inputs and enables the project team to reflect on its research. At the first meeting, we presented the research project and received valuable feedback on our methodological approaches and recommendations for further research activities. In the coming years, we will meet with the advisory board after each route study to discuss the progress of the project.
Camera Shot No. 3
/in Road Studies/by Hubert LobnigCamera position: A front-facing camera and a rear-facing camera on the car roof film synchronously to the front and to the rear. Future and past. In a split screen video, the shots are merged in different ways. As in other journeys, a column of speeding drivers quickly gathered behind the car. People who were trying to switch from the past to the future.