“MR. BEER & THE BESENVESEN” BY HALLIGRIMUR ARNASON AND LUKAS KOPF IN COLLABORATION WITH NIKOLAUS BEER The project took on the form of a brush and broom research, which started online and then went ethnographic. Following the visit findings, through improvisation with tools and techniques, the project offers a collection of newly created brushes, and insights into the legacy of a dying craft. “We stood face to face with what, sadly, is only the echo of a craft of brush binding that now faces extinction. We tracked down Mr. Beer, the son of the last master of the craft in the Bregenzerwald, who passed on a great amount of information regarding production methods, the craft’s history and its demise, and who also showed us an amazing collection of handmade pieces from his father and him.”
“COSMOPOLITAN CHEESE” BY ANASTASIA EGGERS AND PHILIPP KOLMANN IN COLLABORATION WITH PETER LÄSSER, JOSEF SCHWÄRZLER, JOHANNES KAUFMANN AND TISCHLEREI MOHR Metropolitan Cheese looks at how the local identity of cheese is constructed through a place’s specific bacteria and its reactions when travelling across borders. Seeing cheese as a medium that connects land, animals and humans and as a representative of the relationships and interdependencies between them, the project investigates, tracks and archives the touchpoints between cheese and bacteria. At every location of the travelling exhibition, local craftsmen create a cheese that is placed in the speculative cheese cellar for ripening. Cheeses and whey are applied to the walls of the mobile cellar, contributing to the bacterial culture each time the cellar is moved. This way, truly cosmopolitan conditions develop — ready to influence the cheeses’ ripening process.
“GESTURES IN HANDICRAFT” BY THERESA BINDER AND JULIA OBERMÜLLER People from the Bregenzerwald were asked to have a typical hand gesture of their craft moulded. There are specific gestures to each handicraft, to all cleaning and caring activities. The artefacts at hand, however, also show less obvious ones. Also, customer care was included in the list of ‘care activities’ and represented in a typical gesture as well. Can the gestures of the plaster moulds be clearly assigned to a certain craft or activity? Can care and cleaning be separated from crafting? The lines are blurred. White plaster puts the gesture in the spotlight and makes the hands more anonymous. At the same time, the objects show every fingerprint, every pore of the skin so that the respective person’s identity is inscribed in the object. Again, the work plays with the blurry lines between generalisation and differentiation. Working in handicrafts can and will cause scrapes or even cuts on the hands, meaning that scars are part of the craft. This is why they can also be seen on the objects.
“CARE” BY MICHAEL DORFER AND ANNA-AMANDA STEURER IN COLLABORATION WITH JUPPENWERKSTATT RIEFENSBERG In the Bregenzerwald, for festive occasions, women wear traditional costumes called Juppe. They are counted among the oldest and most valuable garments in Europe. The Juppenwerkstatt Riefensberg produces the fabric for this fascinating, stern-looking piece of clothing. But despite requests from all corners of the world, the small factory will not reveal how the fabric is made; local people are very identified with their traditions and the factory’s philosophy is not to sell home. cARe is about the mystery of the recipe and the grandness of this particular textile with its deep black, shiny surface and small pleats. Scan the link with a mobile phone and the box will reveal its content by means of Augmented Reality.
“SCHINDEL CABINET” BY ANNA GRAMBERGER AND SANDRA HOLZER IN COLLABORATION WITH FLORIAN BÄR (PRODUCTION), VERENA GIESINGER AND SIMON GRAMBERGER (AUDIO) The Schindel (shingle) is a distinctive, formative ornament in the architectural compositions that constitute the villages of the Bregenzerwald. At the same time, it plays an important role in the region’s knowledge on culture and craftsmanship that is handed down from one generation to the next. In its original function, the Schindel serves as a protective shield against the influence of the elements. Apart from this and the aesthetic value it adds to the villages of the Bregenzerwald, it can also be seen as an object standing for itself: Its raw surface, its smell of wood, the sounds that come with its production and the personal histories behind the production process make it special and interesting. In its function as an architectural design object, the Schindel preserves family narratives and acts as storyteller about life in the Bregenzerwald.
WHAT CAN DESIGNER LEARN FROM THE PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE OF CRAFTSPEOPLE AND THEIR LONG-LASTING RELATIONS TO OBJECTS?” explores repairing and maintaining of crafted objects, which adds layers of patina and creates long lasting relationships between objects and subjects. The workshop Crafting, Cleaning & Caring by Dutch designer Rianne Makkink explored the materiality and immateriality of such relationships and looked into methodologies of doing things informed by the practical knowledge and the daily work routine of craftspeople. In collaboration with local craftspeople, producers and makers, the participants worked with traditional techniques and experimentation.