Gmuured – In­stal­la­ti­on by Elia­ne Köl­be­ner

Search, arrange, layer - with "Trochemuure" a wall is created by joining and stacking natural stones that does not require any mortar. Over 100 years ago, South Tyrolean guest workers used this technique to build the retaining walls for the mountain inn on the Schäfler. At an altitude of around 2000 meters, they laid the foundation for the tourist use of the plateau between Ebenalp and Säntis between 1913 and 1914.

Eliane Kölbener used her analogue camera to accompany community service workers who renovated old dry stone walls on the Schäfler in the summer months of 2018 and 2019. The photos taken in this way tell of an original craft that is still practiced today. They build a bridge to the seasonal workers of the time, whose craft overlaps with the renovation work on the walls. Kölbener makes the names of the unknown guest workers and other information that she has tracked down in the so-called foreigner registers of Appenzell Innerrhoden visible in a large list.

Eliane Kölbener (*1994) from Appenzell is studying under Wigger Bierma at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts, majoring in graphics/typography/photography.