The SOUTH TYROL'S SCULPTURE RAMBLE is a Land art's project by Lana Art. It starts from Lana but some other municipalities will take part in it. The route, which gives the opportunity to live new experiences, is a footpath that has to be followed on foot for the walker to become aware of the human natural speed, as opposed to our frenzy and fluttering everyday life. 

      Each of the thirteen artists was asked to work on a specific project, and each of them concentrated on a particular place on the route. Walking through it, it is possible to notice how the artists were able to deal with the peculiarities of the route and how they succeeded in plunging into the natural landscape of the Gaul gorge, in the centre of Lana, with its newly built Lendpark, and all through the rest of the path running along the dike of Falschau river and finishing in the industrial area of the town.

      The aim of Lana Art is to create the right conditions to enjoy art in the open air; this organising principle does not imply rigid rules to be followed, but only dynamic developments and intentional processes that are open to differences and unexpected events. 

      WALK AND SEE: the aim of the route is to join two different places. People walking on the path become part of the whole work of art in their function as links between the different sculptures. The work of art spots are meditation and learning stages that everybody can experience. The Sculpture Ramble becomes work of art only when it is related to the walking, to the natural human speed. At some particular points, for example near crosswords or in the proximity of characteristic places, there are sculptures and other works of art which give the visitor all the information he needs to go forward on his walk. Only an autonomous choice to move forward will give the visitor the opportunity to be in touch with nature and the works of art, sharing at the same time the specific point of view of some contemporary artists. By doing so, he will walk, step by step, his way through the peculiarities of a cultural environment.

Wolfgang Wohlfahrt

Description of the ramble

The route starts from inside the Gaul gorge, with its wonderful natural landscape, and leads the visitor all along the river, through suspension bridges, to reach the sculpture of Moon Byoung - Tak, the South Korean artist. The title of this work of art, "I am angry", and the sculpture itself, a spiral in the shape of a dragon tail, thinner at the top, refer to an old Korean legend which tells about nine dragons (symbolising happiness and welfare) that retired underground because they were angry with silly people who destroy nature. 

      Near a river bend, the careful visitor will find a sculpture by Wolfgang Wohlfahrt from Vienna, whose title is "Bend"; this sculpture is situated on a collapsed piece of rock, and it is made of straight steel bars. The curved shape of the sculpture has to be seen in formal contradiction with the straight lines that normally correspond to human creations based on the observation of nature. 

      At the end of the Gaul gorge, near the "Festplatz", there are the four Jeanette Zippel´s "Wild bees trees". The artist, who comes from Stuttgart, makes her living sculpture thanks to the help of wild bees that create their nesting sites inside the holes of chestnuts trees at about 3 m from the ground. 

      Walking through the "Festplatz" and past the pedestrian gate, the visitor reaches the opposite bank of Falschau river where he can admire the big sculpture in steel and stones by the Japanese artist Hiroshi Teshima. This sculpture with its river stones contained in a steel structure reminds the visitor of the embankment that was built to contain the river and prevent its waters from flooding Lana. The title of the sculpture, "Closed", aims at focusing the visitor's attention on such security problem, this time from the point of view of the river. 

      The route runs near the centre of the village leading to the newly built Lendpark. A few steps and the visitor is at river level where he can find Herbert Golser´s work of art: an acoustic object that, through some pipes, interacts directly with the river. The Falschau river sounds are conveyed into the steel object to be integrated into the environment as the "specific sound of the place". 

      On the opposite side of the park there is an enormous steel sculpture in the shape of a ribbon, measuring approximately 17 m. It is called "Life" and it is a work of art by Thaddäus Salcher  from South Tyrol. This sculpture is a metaphor for a big and large path (standing for life itself) that, starting with an upward ascent, reaches its top and then twists, and with a very steep descent leads directly to the ground. 

      Farther on, coming down to the plain, there is the "Little bridge". The artist Hanno Metzler from Lingenau (Austria) substitutes a wooden bridge with a handworked Monticolo porphyry sheet. Through this structure, a piece of the route becomes itself a sculpture that the visitor can directly live and enjoy. 

      The route rises again and leads to the dike of the Falschau river. Down on the left side, on a little isle in the middle of the river, it is possible to admire a sculpture in the shape of a floating river wave. It is made of granite stones of different size put in a row. "walking lightly", the sculpture by Erika Inger from South Tyrol, puts in relation to each other the slowly movement of the stones and the natural human walking speed. It is exactly this kind of walking that leads the visitor along the river till the next sculpture situated close to the pedestrian bridge. 

      "Moving Gate", the sculpture by the artist Manfred Emmenegger-Kanzler from Germany is so sensitive that it records any small movement coming either from the environment or from the human presence. This sculpture was made with bent steel plates and silicon elastic bands. When the wind blows and makes it swing, it becomes one with the bridge and the river; together, they form a new complex that reacts to the environment conditions and to human influences. 

      "Window", the sculpture by Wil-ma Kammerer from South Tyrol is a glass wall measuring 4 X 4 m with a dividing element that splits the structure into two halves. It has been projected to blend the light from the sky with the water of the river. Through it the visitor can admire the landscape, but also observe the aesthetical paradigms of an artistic exploration of nature and public space. 

      The route keeps on going down, leading to the green area of the Falschau river. It is an area used as a playground and for leisure, and it is situated very near the gravel pit, which the route passes by through a downhill road. Walking through a little emergency bridge, the visitor reaches the other side of the river. Between the industrial area and the highway, there is the Artists Garden, which is situated on a green hill, once a rubbish dump; it is called the "Memory Park", a spiral measuring about 30 m in diameter made of 100 poplars. This work of art by Maria Burger und Thomas Hansen is the last sculpture, at least for the moment, of this artistic walk. Each tree bears the name of a famous or unknown artist of the last thousand years, to whom it is dedicated.

      Performance of Doris Plankl und Remo Rostagno. The two artists followed the route, seen as a place in constant evolution.

June 2000