!The Germans are coming! – A play in two acts

Installation with photo / text series and two channel video work                                                                     Germany / Austria

Deutsch

Brief description of the project

As a supplement to an intensive research pertaining to a seasonal job and the tourism of Germans in the Austrian Alps, I was personally engaged, both in Germany and in the tourist city of Kitzbuehel as a waitress and as a ski tourist under contra-conditions.
The outcome of this was, on the one hand, photographs and text records, which provide an off-stage glimpse of the engagement. Video recordings of the travel routes, Berlin – Kitzbuehel (seasonal work) and Cologne – Kitzbuehel (tourism) capture the parallelism of both “Groups”.
They yield comparisons and correlations, which are presented to one perceiving the same as a narrative of experiences of an “associative production of documentary material”.

accommodation and breakfast situation of the short term employees and the tourists     

Concept of the project

The installation, “!The Germans are coming! – A play in two acts”, is related to a current topic: the increasing number of German migrant workers in Austria. Specifically: to the German seasonal workers in the Austrian tourism industry.

Presently, a part of the unemployed in Germany have become migrant workers owing to the economic situation and distorted perspectives. They are already working in Spain, Italy, Switzerland or Austria. At the same time, however, about 50% of holiday-makers in the alpine region of Austria are German tourists. So far, theories pertaining to tourism research and migration-related movements describe more the cross flows of migrant workers and tourists, such as that, for example, between Germany – Italy, which was perceivable in the 50’s. In the present case, however, the flow of tourists and seasonal workers runs in parallel. A fact, which has not yet been closely examined in this form and possibly, represents a new phenomenon.

The central theme of my work is focussed exactly at this interface. An increasing number of German seasonal workers come into contact with a large number of German tourists in the midst of the Austrian Alps.

I have attempted to capture and contrast both perspectives in my artistic manifestation. For one, I take the place of a seasonal worker in Kitzbuehel (undercover). In this connection, I visit the place as a tourist. Both the acts, virtually performances on a single stage, yield two entirely different experiences and perceptions. I document the experiences and impressions on the basis of photographs, diary entries, video recordings and a concealed microphone. Both experiences have been elaborated as a series of photographs and text and the video recordings of both travel routes are combined with sound collages of the microphone recordings. There are comparisons or correlations in a single installation, which present a report on one’s experiences to the audience.

lambda – prints on aluminium, 35 pieces, each 16,5 cm x 23 cm                                                                                               

text – series, pencil on the wall

two-channel video, each 15 min.