Fri., 24/05/2024 from 16:00 o'clock
On May 24, Australian artist and architect Benjamin Reynolds will present his installation Wanderhändlerweg, a project about trading traditions, crops and migration, in the circular village of Zelting. In the summer of 2023, Reynolds (* 1984) spent a research stay with Manfred Mikl in Zelting. The houses arranged around a central oval village square in Austria's south-easternmost municipality correspond to this type of village, which is very rare in Austria. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
In his Wanderhändlerweg project, the artist explores the once flourishing, now almost lost tradition of one of the oldest cultivated plants, flax. Until the beginning of the Second World War, the lengthy and labor-intensive cultivation of flax was widespread in large parts of Styria, especially in the Enns Valley, but also in the area around Bad Radkersburg, mainly for personal use. The processing of flax into linen textiles was an important part of the local culture and economy. By the end of the 19th century, cotton, and later synthetic fibers, had already replaced this hardy crop: Reynolds' project also sees itself as an examination of the historical tradition of the itinerant trader, who also sold fabrics made from flax linen, among other things. These itinerant, usually widely traveled "peddlers" often covered many hundreds of kilometers across Europe on foot to bring their goods to remote settlements. These sometimes suspiciously eyed peddlers also brought with them an important transfer of knowledge and culture. As cheaper competition to the local merchants, they were soon faced with massive restrictions, which they tried to circumvent. Many of these traveling merchants settled on their journeys for economic reasons, which illustrates that migration is not a modern phenomenon. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Bad Radkersburg - Runddorf Zelting, 8490 Bad Radkersburg