­­­Stadt-Land-Kind. An intergenerational Ethnography on Rural Images of Longing­­

Martina Fineder, Luise Reitstätter, Paul Reiter, Iris Ranzinger, Herbert Justnik, Astrid Hammer, Katharina Zwerger-Peleska, Matthias Beitl, Mark Elias Napadenski

Sparkling Science project (September 2017 – October 2019)

Departing from the photography collection of the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art the research project “Stadt-Land-Kind” investigates the myth of a better life on the countryside from an intergenerational perspective. Which images do we use to “write” our history of the countryside? And which social constructs and (future) promises are negotiated in these images? Our first objective is to deconstruct conventional notions of authenticity utilized today in images of the countryside by touristic, product, and political branding.  Our second objective is to update memories of rural Austria through a) the critical investigation of historically and culturally constructed motifs of longing, b) the generation of new multiperspectival images, and c) a collective exhibition. This transdisciplinary approach weaves strands of visual and sensory ethnography, research into design and everyday life, and museology into a profitable and fruitful constellation. The methods of intergenerational picture talks, research postcards, and photo expeditions are employed in the ethnographic research process. While the sciences benefit from the analysis and updating of visual and material cultures along with the population, the impetus for educational policy resides in the exploration of an open concept of Heimat and the enhancement of visual literacies with school children and their families. In addition to accompanying workshops, the project will be open to the public in a final exhibition at the Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in Vienna.

A project of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in cooperation with the University of Vienna (CReA Lab), the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art, Werkraum Bregenzerwald, VS Rastenfeld, NMS Kals am Großglockner and Werkraum school Bregenzerwald.
Realized within the programme Sparkling Science and funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research

stadt-land-kind.at