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Lunz am See, 20.6.2009 – 20.9.2009

Information

The Lake Lunz ecosystem is one of the most interesting in Europe - as a result of its exceptional geographical position coupled with its biodiversity. The architecture students of the contemporary art institute were invited to respond to the existing biological and topographical situation of Lake Lunz with temporary installative interventions. As part of a course given in Graz and a workshop at the WasserKluster in Lunz am See, led by Gabi Weiglhofer, the students learned about the particularities of the Lake Lunz landscapes. In particular, the issue was pursued of how the limnological situation impacts on the forms of its inhabitants, users and shapers. Lake Lunz is richly inhabited by a wealth of fauna, ranging from different types of plankton (both zooplankton and phytoplankton) to wild trout, freshwater char, European bullheads, gudgeon, minnows and perch. All of these inhabitants require certain conditions for their habitat, and even adapt their shapes to conditions in the lake. The installative works were able to bridge the language of scientific research with artistic practises in three-dimensions in a cooperation with the WasserKluster Lunz. The architecture students at Graz University of Technology began to develop artistic interventions in this context as part of the course on designing for specialised themes (given by Hans Kupelwieser and Ruby Sircar) in the summer semester of 2009. They developed different temporary, medial and artistic interventions that engaged concretely with the lake's ecosystem.

 The project works range from installations to performances held in public space. Alongside the works developed by the students the head of the contemporary art institute, Hans Kupelwieser, also completed a contribution to the exhibition in the rural public space of Lunz. All of the realised artistic projects work with bionic forms and are informed by Public Art and Land Art. The artistic translation of bionic forms and functions resulted in works ranging from driftwood islands and plankton-like underwater sculptures and lake-magnifiers for swimmers, to artificial fungus, crying trees and aquariums that rendered the contents of the lake visible and accessible on foot, and a bubbling artificial spring that breaks the surface of the lake.


Acooperation between the WasserKluster Lunz and Professor Thomas Hein of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, and the Institut für zeitgenössische Kunst (contemporary art institute) at Graz University of Technology.

Project management: Hans Kupelwieser, Ruby Sircar
Project participation : Markus Pendlmayr

Contributions

Claudia Maria del Cid Calderón, Miriam Roseane Nascimento Duarte, Hanife Tepegöz

The first work that discussed the forms of zooplankton being researched was realised under water by Miriam Roseane Nascimento Duarte, Hanife Tepegöz and Claudia Maria Del Cid Calderon directly on or under water beneath the lakeside stage. The project Plankton consisted of three tyres filled with a fluorescent liquid that changed shade between pink and orange according to the light conditions (artificial lighting at night and sunlight by day). The plankton sculptures floated sedately in the lake, each approximately six metres in size. Zooplankton at its biggest, a morphed translation, inflated, radiated and displayed. 

Erika Banyayova, Javier Rufat Lopez, Luka Murovec

A beautiful project that engaged with the ecological technology involved with the work, the observation and research at and in the lake was the Hölzerne Insel (Wooden Island) by Erika Banyayova, Javier Rufat Lopez and Luka Murovec. The forested surroundings gather on the lake in heavy rain and storms in the form of driftwood. This artificial island put an end to the drifting. It collected the driftwood, having been pulled out to sea by boat and anchored on the lake bed. This island was visited as a place of shaded refuge during the summer by the juvenile fish and minnows. At the same time ducks and herons also used the island as a place to sleep and catch fish.

Christian Fries

A further works engages with microorganisms: with Waterstars Octopus Christian Fries made illuminated spherical bodies float like buoys to magnify the lake's inhabitants in different stages of their development, making them visible to the naked eye on the surface of the lake. 

Barbara Heier, Barbara Sima, Claudia Sohm

The project Schw[a]emme (Sponges/Watering Place) by Barbara Heier, Barbara Sima and Claudia Sohm found a suitable location between the trees on the shore of the lake. They played with the link between water and shore landscape: industrial fungus sucks up water like its natural namesake. A new form of life that has crawled from the bathroom into the wilderness. Basins that were kept running by the lake water climbed up the shoreside trees like fungus. The sculpture was powered by solar panels, as was Weinender Baum. The quantity of water involved varied according to the weather. 

Stefanie Jehrlich, Anika Johanna Schaffer

A further works engages with microorganisms: The project Planktopien (Planktopias) by Stefanie Jehrlich and Anika Johanna Schaffer made the microorganisms mutate and walk on land. They hung as transparent silhouettes in the trees of the lakeside promenade. A large window was opened, and the public could see the lake through the plankton's eyes

David Krottmayer, Nina Kuess, Alexander Poschner

This work was also a quotation that alluded to the value of the water and its management in times of global water shortage, its examination and use: David Krottmayer, Nina Kuess and Alexander Poschner made a tree cry — a beautiful and poetic work on the grounds of the Lunz lakeside bathing facility, a Weinender Baum (Crying Tree) from the crown of which magical rain begins to sparkle in the sunshine: a fountain, a natural performance. 

Barbara Wölfl, Barbara Steindl

With their lake-magnifying work Loupes Barbara Steindl and Barbara Wölfl realised their aim of stopping and appealing to the general public — i.e. beyond staff at the research laboratory. Users of the lake are provided with vast magnifying glasses with which they can explore the surface of the water or cast a glance into the depths of the unknown realm of the lake. Large tyres that glowed as they swayed and floated on the surface of the lake. 

Thomas Untersweg, Stefan Schmoll

Thomas Untersweg and Stefan Schmoll represented the principle of reproduction and dissemination with their work Lake[de]Lights. These were small lighting objects that could be taken from the public space into private space — colourful summer greetings from magnetic fireflies. The magnets with LED diodes were attached to the ramp of the lakeside stage. By day only visible as colourful dots, they made their host glow by night. The miniature sculptures, which glowed for up to three weeks, quickly vanished from their original location and were soon to be found in the town of Lunz and in private space, and as far afield as Vienna or Graz. 

Antonia Nakova, Michael Siesz

With their Wassersäulen (Water Columns) — which lifted the water out of the sea, bubbling into sight above the surface of the water at the WasserKluster mooring — Antonia Nakova and Michaela Siesz literally integrated an allusion to the work at the research station in their work. Does water look like that when we raise it above the surface in a column? 

Hans Kupelwieser

The conclusion of the tour around the lake was provided by Hans Kupelwieser's contribution Font du Lac: a bubbling fountain that broke out in a small bay on the forested bank of the lake, visible from the lake, by boat or swimming, or almost hidden from the shore. A watery bright spot. The fountains were fed from the waters of the current running above the lake. A homage to the lake: wild waters, or is it a pacified cultural landscape? 

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