December 2005/May 2006

Alesd/Romania
Neufelden/Austria

1:1 draw: Together with Austrian students an aid shipment and a visit in Alesd/Romania was organized. After that the Romanian students visited Austria.
“Die Grünberg“, the ship in „Der Station“ plays a key role in this social sculpture called “international game”: The landed boat resembles a landed culture-ark and was loaded with the “luggage of our culture” as a permanent installation. Between the poles of European cultures, poor and rich, young and elderly, water and land, a world of different personal realities was installed and created on the boat.  
The ship became the museum-like cargo hold of cultural assets and everyday objects from different European worlds and gave space to their “individual” stories. Formally the ship functions as storage for used parts where origin and personal impact of the parts is being recorded and conveyed to the visitors. The contentional material of this piece of work was contributed by approx. 50 passengers, young people and adults from Romania and Austria who arrived with their “cultural luggage” for one week in Austria. The brought along objects were discussed and recorded over the course of this week.

A short previous history: „Die Grünberg“ (greenhill) (23m/32t) has „landed“ within the project about Stifter in the series „Land in sight“ at the river „Große Mühl“ in May 2005.

In December Joachim Eckl visited Alesd in Romania together with 15 students of the high school in Rohrbach. They took used school furniture and more aid supplies with a truck to the local school.  
In June 20 students from the Romanian School visited Neufelden together with 6 teachers. They were invited to join the project  „Alle im selben Boot“ .

In parallel with the installation on the boat, regional people were asked to bring aid supplies to “Die Station”. While delivering their aid supplies, people could meet the Austrian and Romanian participants and notice how people react and relate to each other sharing the same boat.

The permanent installation was a result of a social sculpture „the landed ship filled with the luggage of our culture“ at the end of the visit of the Romanian guests. A truck was loaded with the aid supplies and young people and adults could distribute all these things in Romania themselves.

Further pictures