Inward-looking, reflecting, waiting. “ruhend_palsé”, the work of the artist Ruth Oberschmied from Bruneck/Brunico, focuses on the antagonism between tourism and agriculture, foregrounding issues that resonate from the past to the present.
The Kronplatz looks back on a long-standing tradition of transhumance. Therefore the artist, who degreed in Art Education and History, addressed an animal the leading role in her project: whereas today it is mainly cows that graze on the pastures, in the past there used to be large herds of sheep romping around the green meadows.
Culturally and historically important farm animals that also symbolise liveliness and permanence. The choice of material is no coincidence either, as Oberschmied wanted to realise her project in a fabric that reflected the sobriety of the decades preceding the era of tourism: Linen. The fluorescent text applied on the bodies of the linen sheep captures the viewer's interest and raises questions that connect the past with the present. A time in which farmers are once again interested in droving their herds of sheep to the Kronplatz. However, as in many other places, “someone else” now calls the shots up here, which means that keeping livestock without herd protection becomes a problem, throwing up an essential question: How much longer will it be possible at all to keep herds at higher altitudes?