This is a journey to the mountains of Austria to find a unique biannual Art Festival! One that makes an entire region in the country into and Art Festival. Artists come and live together, install their art, interact with the community, present their ideas, perform and create new connections. If you go to one you will spend your time visiting a beautiful area, meeting amazing people and experiencing the power of art as community event. It is hard to tell this story because it is so many stories in it. I remember giant billboard put on the road ways looking official stating that there would build a high speed railway to this mountain area, people called that mayor, mad or happy but they talked and it was about a work of art not building. I remember amazing performance art by Josef Ka. People talking about the impact and meaning of their art. Stories about how the churches at first di not want a guitar player performing in their churches until a more monder think prest made it happen and it was incredibly moving. How the artists from Berlin talked about how the concept of public space that the public actually can use goes away as the capitalist “free market” puts everything to its ownership pay model. The meditation of the yodel. The music of tree trunks. The massage of the motorway. The bonfire of connection. Showing it is best to exchange creativity and ideas and believe it can lead to a better world. Oh and I remember some really great food and drink!
This festival was created by Tina Heine (artistic director of Supergau. These are impressions of the festival shown at a public exhibition in Salzburg, in 2024.
The Supergau is a landscape in which art finds new spaces. Forest and meadow landscapes, mountain and lake landscapes, landscapes of houses, asphalt and concrete landscapes become the stage in the Supergau. For 10 days, these spaces will be redesigned and used by artists.
Artists from various disciplines are invited to demonstrate with their works that rural regions can be exceptional sites for contemporary art. The landscape will become an art space that complements the existing art spaces in the city. This is not about competing with the city, but rather about expanding the artistic field of activity. Through the collaboration of municipalities, residents, and artists, Supergau, a new artistic district in the state of Salzburg, will be created for a period of 10 days.
The biennial festival premiered in Flachgau in 2021, Lungau in2023, Pinzgau in 2025 and will be in TennenGau 2027!
Supergau is organized by the State of Salzburg and is a key measure within the framework of the Salzburg Cultural Development Plan (KEP). The State of Salzburg is thus explicitly committed to promoting contemporary art production, through which new ideas are conceived, developed, implemented, and presented.
This film was created using some of the footage that remained after a untimely computer crash, it seems long at 22 minutes and though full of incredible art installations it only scratches the surface of all the events and installations that where there. Check out their website and magazine to get a better idea of all that awaits at a Supergau!
Director Tina Heina
https://www.supergau.org/
https://hadleys.menu-world.com/
Organizer
State of Salzburg
Festival management
Matthias Ais (Salzburg State) |
Tina Heine (Atelier for Contemporaries)
Film by:B-Roll Films/Boston: https://brollfilms.com/
#SuperGau, #EuropeanArtFestival
