Wendelin Pressl :
Land in Sicht (Land in Sight) - the RelationShips from Himberg

Carefree Hours

Imagine a postcard picture from a bygone era showing a tranquil pond surrounded by lush nature. In the foreground is a rowboat in which a young couple is enjoying a few carefree hours on the water. The black and white photograph has been colored in warm pastel hues. As they glide over the water in sunny weather, the mood is cheerful, and the boat sways with the rowers’ every maneuver. We can imagine a lovingly prepared picknick basket in the bow of the boat. Where will the young couple go on shore? Will they choose one of the islands in the castle pond of Laxenburg Park?

While this imaginary postcard may seem a little outdated, the picture is not a thing of the past. This scene can be found at just about any pond or small lake where a boat can be rented. Most people would file riding in a rowboat with your sweetheart under the category of “lovely experiences.” Anyone who has been on such a ride in a rowboat, even if this was decades ago, will sometimes get a smile on their face when they see such a boat.

Placed in front of the café of the nursing and care center in Himberg, five boats made by Wendelin Pressl bring back these memories of boats gently rocking on the water, of feeling happy, and of carefree hours in the past. It is very likely that many of the roughly 150 people who receive care in the center can remember such an experience, not to mention the people working there and most likely a large number of those who come to visit their loved ones.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea,” says Sandra Lechner, the nursing director of the center in Himberg, quoting Antoine de Saint-Exupéry as a way to describe her approach to her job. This includes not only leading a large team, but also a broad range of responsibilities, spanning from long-term care, to adult day care, to palliative care. The Laxenburg Castle pond may not be the Adriatic Sea, and the colorful aluminum boats may not be sailing yachts, but the new artwork in Himberg invokes associations of the sea in a wondrous way.

About 230 years ago, several people with a vision for the future wanted to build a canal that would connect Vienna, which was the capital of the Austrian Empire, with the Adriatic Sea. However, Vienna is at least 335 kilometers away from the Adriatic Sea as the crow flies and its lowest elevation is 150 meters above sea level! There are also obstacles in between, from the foothills of the Alps to the Karst Plateau. The venture soon got underway, and the first section, the Wiener Neustadt Canal, was realized. It passed Himberg north of the River Schwecha, and the so-called Himberg Bridge can still be found on historical maps today.

The canal to the Adriatic Sea never continued past Wiener Neustadt, however, and the waterway in the Himberg area no longer exists. Still, Pressl’s artwork creates a network of references between the boats he installed at the center, memories of carefree rides in a rowboat, and a longing for the sea.

Let’s have a closer look at how the boats have been placed. Part of each boat has been sunk into the ground to make it stable, leaving the largest part standing vertically, as if emerging from the lawn. All the boats are connected through a handicapped-accessible path. On dry land, the boats acquire a new function: They provide seating protected from the sun and wind. The boats let people sit alone or across from each other, creating a relationship between them. Visible from afar, the boats stand tall like Stone Age monoliths. On closer inspection, the upwardly striving forms look a little like gothic chapels. They also resemble the roofed beach chairs used on the beaches of the German North and Baltic Seas after a long day, when they are no longer neatly arranged, but are loosely spread over the sand.

In front of a nursing and care center, these boats make us think about what a fulfilled life looks like. What is it like to be in a stage of our lives when we’re no longer able to manage on our own? When we’re no longer in charge of our own lives? When we rely on others to help and support us? Life has often been described as a journey with various stages, and boats are often used as a metaphor for this. Pressl’s RelationShips have dropped anchor in a place where people are in a stage of their life’s journey when they have to rely on other people for support, have to depend on the professionalism of these people, and are happy to receive their humanity and warmth. Land ho!

Anton Lederer