“Social Design Is Invisible” – Social Design Summer School 2019 in Bad Eisenkappel

The Summer School departed from a modernist now abandoned hotel built in 1971 after the plans of the Yugoslavian architect Ilija Arnautović in a small Carinthian village of about 2.500 inhabitants. The Summer School gathered international students and artists from various disciplines to elaborate on the potential impact of Social Design in the border region between Austria, Slovenia and Italy.

The Hotel Obir in Bad Eisenkappel could be regarded as a monument of geopolitical constellations after the end of Yugoslavia in 2003 and as a symbol of a depopulation process of former mining areas. It was regarded as an alien in terms of its appearance though it represented a success story hosting tourists, business travellers as well as festivities by the local people. Finally, a series of structural changes led to its closure. For 17 years the building has been abandoned and is waiting for new functions.

The programme started with exploring the context of Bad Eisenkappel, a village with a bilingual (Slovenian and German) population. The tour included exchanges with the Longo Mai agricultural cooperative, the Partisan-Museum at Peršmanhof, or an exploration of “Heft” in Hüttenberg, a former 19th century iron mill later transformed by architect Günther Domenig. Austrian filmmaker Robert Schabus presented his documentary about Hotel Obir. Zdravko Haderlap introduced us to the political local history along a film he had produced together with director Birgit-Sabine Sommer using participatory re-enactment to share the politically colliding experiences during WWII between victims and perpetrators. Dimitri Hegemann discussed his concepts of “Space Pioneering” in Berlin’s “Tresor” or clubs in Detroit. Lukas Vejnik analyzed examples of modernist architecture in Alpine regions in Austria. Ernst Logar presented his art work linked to neglecting of Partisan history in Austria and Willi Ošina opened the former elementary school in Lepen explaining the history of the writers and artists who attended school there and who experienced the discrimination being part of the Slovene speaking minority. Wato Tsereteli, director of the CCA University in Tiblisi/Georgia, reflected the utopian potential of the hotel for the village looking for new narratives. In a final public event ideas and questions were presented to the municipality and local guests. Thus, a long-term partnership between Angewandte and the citizens of Bad Eisenkappel has been started.

Time

July 2019

Location

Bad Eisenkappel

Team

Social Design Studio