Andrea Sodomka :
Theatre Path To Giesshübl Quarry

This work was realised on the occasion of the celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of the 2nd Republic and in connection with a performance of the play Zwölfeläuten by Heinz R. Unger by the Karltheater Giesshübl at the Giesshübl quarry. Four objects from everyday life before 1945 – a bell, a collecting box, a shortwave radio and an air-raid siren – which have not changed their appearance to this very day, were placed in the asphalt by means of a silkscreen technique. Four different symbols with the same form are distributed forty times along the whole length of the path. Ideas: wreaths and lights that are laid down, but also orders and medals. Chalk signs. A melting-down of luck, but also a melting-down of monuments which do not conform to the system, in order to cast new ones.

Excerpt from: Heinz R. Unger, Zwölfeläuten, ein steirischer Schwank in 4 Akten, Vienna, Kaiser-Verlag. Here in translation.

(From the village Jogl pushes a cart piled high with Nazi relics) Jogl: "Hey Jogl, do us a favour", they said, "You can do it", they said. Now I’m lumbered with the junk: fourteen Mein Kampfs, swastikas galore and half a kilo of Party medals. (He holds up high a portrait of Hitler) Who would’ve thought? Me burying the Führer! Toni: Got to burn all that now, Jogl? Jogl: "Don’t burn it", they said, "Bury it, Jogl, who knows – perhaps we’ll need it again some day!"