Mobile Research Station no.2 was commissioned by ‘Kunst im Öffentlichen Raum, Niederösterreich’ (Austria), in 2014 but unfortunately not completed (due to local political reasons…).
Proposal:
On the top of the Zwenfurthkogel a strange apparition seems to have landed – part spaceship, part ‘Wanderhutte’ (walkers-refuge). At night there are sometimes lights to be seen in the strange construction perched on the tip of a small mountain and by day, the top of a wooden tower can just been seen poking out above the trees. If a curious hiker takes the time to wander off from the walking trail and follow the track up the small mountain they will find an unexpected sight.
Mobile Research no.2 will be constructed using a standard wooden silo as its basis. In former times wooden silos were used on farms for storing grain but are now more usually used for the storing of salt for the roads and motorways in the winter (as the salt will corrode metal silos). As a pre-fabricated structure these silos can be purchased relatively cheaply (very cheap for an extremely solid 12-meter-high tower). The wooden silo will be refurbished with a series of floors to create a kind of luxury Wanderhutte (or ‘Walkers’ Refuge’) that members of the public will be able to book as an overnight shelter on their walking tours. The public will have the chance to stay the night in a sculpture built to offer views across the valleys and of the looming peak of the ‘Ötscher’ mountain in the distance. Those that are merely passing by will be able to walk around and under the strange sculpture and imagine who the intended occupants might be and what they might see from its prominent observation platform. The main purpose of the tower though is as a base for series of short artists’ residencies that will offer intense periods of reflection for 3 artists per year.