Wagen D

14 days, 14 stops, 14 happenings, 1 wagon and myself.

Wagen D was an artwork that existed from the 20th of August

2021 to the 3rd of September 2021 and this is its documentation.

In this project I walked from Innsbruck, Austria over the Brenner

Pass to Bolzano, Italy and each day I produced a different

performance which was conceived along the journey to serve

as an immediate reflection on the experience. With this quite

spontaneous approach, I was able to adapt more easily to the

place, the people and my own state of being. Since the piece was

temporary, documentation was crucial to then also be able to go

back and reflect on the work’s many facets. I chose to film the

performances, take an instant photo of the performance’s setting

and write a diary in between the performances. After my arrival

in Bolzano, I organized the documentation and reflected on what

had happened. And this is where we are now. Throughout this

documentation, I will describe the process and results of this

work, with the help of diary entries, commentary on said texts,

and a collection of short essays reflecting on the artwork. First

I will give some background on the route I walked, why I chose

it, its history and its political and social significance today. Then

I will describe the tradition, history and recent developments of

the artist’s journey. When this background is given the actual

documentation of Wagen D becomes the focal point. How did I

get this idea to walk (very unprepared I must say) from Innsbruck

to Bolzano with a hand wagon? What happened during the

journey and how did I react to these events? And finally, how

did my performances shape and reflect on the journey? This

leads us to the last section of this documentation in which I try

to make sense of this happening. I go into aspects of the act of

walking, the significance of the wagon, what performance spaces

are and could be, travel and tourism, and a broader way of how

we perceive foreignness and how to deal with vulnerability. For

these essays, I explored various art practices, sociological and

psychological processes, as well as examined my own experiences

on the road.

Ultimately this project was an exploration of personal, cultural

and artistic borders and boundaries and how to approach and

eventually overcome them.