48°32'52"N / 16°33'53"E

Intervention

2014

A motorway cuts a swath through the idyllic, hilly landscape of eastern Austria. The radicality of this measure becomes evident in the meter-high walls of earth and sliced-through surfaces of the hills. The topographical incision also means a change in the local, socio-cultural structure. Places of residence and work will (have to) adapt to the new possibilities. Comfort for one can mean loss to another. Katharina Cibulka uses this moment of modification, which turns the landscape into an artifical product. Similar to the action in Belgrade, she inserts delicate flowers – Euphorbia Diamond, called “Diamond Frost” or Zauberschnee (“magic snow”) – into the situation, as if to underscore the magnitude and vehemence of the road. Placed in a broken line, the flowers form the median strip and in doing so, establish a graphically classified sign: a fast lane, so to speak. The road’s own function becomes visible; at the same time, its absoluteness and consequence is called into question. A merged representation of supposedly incompatible concepts – unrest and minimalist sharpness – takes considerable skill. As viewers, we find ourselves torn between the austere-looking “street design” and the outright appropriation of urban and infrastructural complexes.