Walden
Since 2003, the Museum of Art History A space for artistic intervention has been integrated. A space of resonant relationships and dialogue: the sacred and the profane, the past and the present. Transformations and processes. The artists invited to date have repeatedly surprised us with incredibly multi-layered and complex artistic solutions. In doing so, they draw on Admont Abbey as a place of spiritual reflection and home to such diverse collections, on the library, the archives and the cultural memory stretching back almost 950 years. In 2019, Daniel Zimmermann then designed the space under the title WALDEN.
First, a silver fir was felled in the Admont Abbey’s monastic timber forest and processed into 1,500 wooden slats. The stacked slats were then transported by train, lorry and boat to the Brazilian rainforest. Through time-lapse 360° scenes, WALDEN portrays the paradoxical journey of the stack of wooden slats along globalised trade routes. Its mysterious final destination was Campinha on the middle reaches of the Rio Negro, at an indigenous community in the heart of the Amazon.
The action is a metaphorical reference to socio-political realities. This cosmopolitan reflection on the ecological aspects of international transport reveals the workings of the globalised economy. The main flow of goods normally runs from South America to Europe, from the resource-rich forests of the Amazon to the countries of the ‘developed’ world. By transporting the wooden slats, we follow the same route, but in the opposite direction. In doing so, perspectives shift. This mobilises our own space for thought.
Daniel Zimmermann’s *Walden* project lies somewhere between post-factual documentation, political-economic critique and surreal action. During their journey, the wooden slats of a silver fir found themselves in a subtle, absurd limbo between work of art and mundane everyday object.
Daniel Zimmermann
Born in Thun, Switzerland, visual artist, originally a wood sculptor, works with film, stereoscopic photography, installation and performance. He has realised numerous art projects both at home and abroad in museums, exhibition spaces and public spaces. His work includes, amongst other things, short films, which have also been screened at renowned international film festivals. One of his films was even nominated for Best Swiss Short Film in 2008. He has also won various grants and awards for his projects. Since 2005, he has been collaborating with the choreographer Amanda Piña and founded nadaproductions, where he works as artistic director, dramaturg and performer.
by Daniel Zimmermann, 2019
