Mountains between Myth and Commerce_group exhibition

22.08 - 13.09.25

Feared, desired, and claimed! How do human perspectives and attitudes to life change the alpine landscape? The group exhibition "Mountains between Myth and Commerce" aims to explore this question and ventures a look into possible future scenarios.

It was once the primordial sea Tethys, which unfolded around 100 million years ago to form the highest plateau in Europe. This is how the 1,200-kilometre-long Alps present themselves today: a very serrated mountain range with valleys, alpine pastures and peaks up to 4,800 metres high. Wind, water and ice have changed and shaped them in a continuous process. Humans are now responsible for an ever-increasing proportion of this geological transformation. From the first agrarian societies almost 7,000 years ago to today's high-tech ski circus, man has been visibly changing the Alpine natural environment.

For a long time, people avoided the high mountains. They were regarded as useless and dangerous wastelands and feared accordingly. Gradually, these once inaccessible regions were colonised and cultivated. Only the peaks were of no interest for human subsistence. This changed rapidly in the 18th century. The mountain is calling! The first summiteers set off to explore the Alps. The desire to confront the unknown and conquer fear through reason and exploration led not only alpinists, but also naturalists, geologists and humanists to the initially terrifying, but also irresistible peaks of the high mountains.

The inhabitants of the Alps are initially extremely surprised that city dwellers are enthusiastic about their rugged, inhospitable nature. The initial astonishment is followed by the idea of profit. Even the philosopher Hegel complained about the high prices in the Alpine regions at the end of the 18th century. The conquest of Mont Blanc in 1787 marked the beginning of alpinism. In the Alps, the mountain as a space open to all gradually became a bone of contention between the nations, who fought out their bitter competition for victory and power there.

The improvement of the road network gave a definitive boost to tourism development in the Dolomites region. In 1909, Vienna-born Theodor Christomannos pushed ahead with the boldest road project of those pioneering times: the Dolomites Road, which connected Bolzano with Cortina and Dobbiaco. Apart from the two world wars, tourism has increased exponentially ever since. Considering the annual number of 5,200 tourists who visited the municipality of Ortisei in 1910, the 37.1 million overnight stays in 2024 in Gardena Valley speak for themselves.

Even more so than at the turn of the last century, we are now experiencing an exaggerated longing for nature. The mountains are being even more strongly reclaimed as a place of refuge and an alpine paradise. In our digital age, a utopian desire for solitary alpine experiences is pressing, and the dream of a vast, untouched natural world is omnipresent. Yet the high mountains have shown, like hardly any other region, that no place and no natural world considered eternal is exempt from the destructive energy of humans.

The exhibition "Mountains between Myth and Commerce" aims to explore the changing human relationship with mountains. Selected artworks contrast the once mystical, almost otherworldly view with today's exploitative intentions. From the mid-18th century onward, wild nature inspired a yearning dream of the solitude, grandeur, and beauty of the summit world, giving rise to depictions of mountains with emotional affinity. Considering today's situation, artists are increasingly finding critical attitudes and allusions toward the mountain landscape. Contemporary art thus understands how to maintain an open tension between perception of reality and traditional imagery, oscillating between a paradisiacal depiction and a predestined destiny.

Participating artists: Elisabeth Frei, Gotthard Bonell, Erich Erler, Rolf Bakalla, Pante Demetz, Claudio Costantino Tagliabue, Konrad Petrides, Gregor Prugger and Leonhard Angerer