Playful in the Alps

A filmic hymn of praise resounds in a modern concrete sculpture in the Grisons Alps. In the experimental short documentary LOBA LOBA (2021) the singer Corin Curschellas respectfully brings the old mountain tradition of alpine blessing into the present day. Her funnel call resounds in Matias Spesha’s modern concrete sculpture OGNA, which in its rawness fits provocatively into the Grisons landscape. The song resounds as an echo on an alp in Vals, becomes a hymn, a contemporary evocation of nature.

Beyond its majestic appearance sporadic elements reveal the glacier's fragility. Objects regurgitated through the melt witness the presence of mankind, leaving scars. Never-ending sounds of collapsing ice blocks reveal the symptoms of an evident decrease. This landscape, which at first seemed motionless, appears permanently changing. Yet, in tension this magnificent and frightening body of ice and stones stands, impressive, resisting.

The Lauberhorn, home of the world’s longest downhill ski race, has turned to summer. 10.000 wooden slats trace the perfect line, always aimed for, but never achieved in winter. You yourself turn into the downhill ski racer and the live commentator as you follow the race downhill at breakneck speed to set a new record.

On the summits of Swiss mountains, Christian crosses stand tall. In the cities, billboards displaying Bible verses occupy public space. I have never felt comfortable with the presence of these religious symbols. Back in 2009, mountain guide Patrick Bussard made headlines when he sawed down a cross in the Fribourg Alps; he was severely punished by the courts.

An autumn day and the first winter night in the high mountains: it is hunting season. The paths of animals and humans cross and fade away. Swathes of mist blur the boundaries between dream, imagination and reality.

A shepherdess wakes up from a dream. In it, she has seen a wolf approaching her flock. She devotes herself to her work and herds her sheep over the summer on a remote alp in Switzerland. She constantly searches the ridges of the surrounding mountains for the predator. When she finally comes face to face with the wolf, the Queen, everything changes...

Small rivulets of a milk white fluid flow from on high before gradually branching out and spreading a meandering path down into the valley. The branches proliferate as the flow spreads across craggy alpine boulders and meadow pastures, eventually reaching a residential neighborhood. At first, the branching flow has a poetically meditative effect, enhanced by sounds of streaming waters. But a threateningly sinister feeling increasingly takes hold as the film proceeds.

On a Swiss glacier at more than 2700 meters above sea level stands a gigantic snow and ice sculpture. 1500 square meters were covered with a special protective fabric. Within only six weeks the unprotected surface of the glacier melted over two meters. Left was a smooth, geometric form in the middle of the wild structures in the Alps.

High Altitude Euphoria is a cinematic myriorama constructed of hundreds of Austrian postcards, which reflect a country´s hackneyed trappings as no other medium can.