Hallstatt - the (virtual) reality: a world of building culture, life stories, tourism reality, education, falling rocks, labor movement, underground and the invisible, rituals, images, myths, as a film set and photo point, world cultural heritage hotspot, economic model and museum as well as real living environment for residents ...

An area / a place with selectively focused narrative, sometimes very detailed space and places. We illuminate life situations, dreams, temporary appropriation sites and places of remembrance - a broad spectrum of living and living environments. From cadastre to carving tool. From the mine tunnel to the 5 star hotel. From water to land and mountain….

While Hallstatt was until recently the epitome of the global phenomenon of overtourism throughout Austria, the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic has now also significantly influenced the structure of the small town, making living conditions difficult and livelihoods threatened.

In the coming years, Hallstatt will also be the stage and host of important contemporary cultural formats such as the "Festival of Regions 2021" and part of the "European Capital of Culture Region Salzkammergut 2024" - possible incubators for future-oriented visions and reflections.

Task

We want to get closer to this place, its phenomena and the question of different living environments as well as the needs of different users using different media or genres (architecture, literature and film, etc.), research and impulse lectures as well as individual journeys of discovery on site. Then specific questions should be formulated in order to generate potentials and strategies for the interaction of these complex, dynamic parameters and areas of tension.

The 4 program lines of the "European Capital of Culture-Region Salzkammergut 2024" also form essential content-related links: power of tradition / power of counterculture / effects of hypertourism / thirst for retreat

The Design Studio sees itself as the elaboration of a collective space of knowledge from which specific projects can be developed - both research-based, conceptually artistic as well as concrete design tasks.

The basis is provided by information documents and papers, personal experience and all images, stories, plans, films, etc. available (on the Internet).

Structure / Mode

The Design Studio "Hallstatt - Denkwerkstatt 2024" ties in with the Bachelor's and Master's Design Studio "Hallstatt - Living in the window" held in the summer semester 2020, which deals with the areas of tension of the global phenomenon of overtourism and living in a local and regional context and essential questions about housing needs and the living environments of the most varied of user groups at different locations in Hallstatt - from affordable housing for residents to hotels for tourists, living space for pupils and hybrid housing models.

These Design Studios and accompanying workshops are part of the research project "Living in Extremis: Hallstatt - Salzkammergut 2024", which focuses on research and teaching and in close cooperation with art and cultural institutions such as the "European Capital of Culture Region Salzkammergut 2024" and the "Festival of Regions 2021" as well as the Hallstatt community, questions and investigations on the topic in depth. The dialogue with the above-mentioned partners as well as the documentation and presentation of the results (on site) are further important components of this format.