Out into the countryside! Artistic projects for outdoor spaces
For the third edition of the Supergau Festival in Salzburger Land, Pinzgau will become Supergau. The closing date for all applications is 12 February 2024, the jury meeting to select the projects will take place in April. The selected artists will meet for their first residency at the end of May.
For the third edition of the Supergau Festival in Salzburger Land, Pinzgau will become Supergau. The closing date for all applications is 12 February 2024, the jury meeting to select the projects will take place in April. The selected artists will meet for their first residency at the end of May.
WHAT IS SUPERGAU
Supergau is an imaginary landscape, a culturally primaeval landscape! Supergau is temporarily limited and, during the festival, superimposes itself like a second layer over the existing topography of one of each of the five Gaue (regions) of Salzburg (Flachgau, Lungau, Pinzgau, Pongau, Tennengau). *
Supergau is freed from the supposed dominance of the city with its programmed cultural spaces, freed from municipal museums, theatres, cabaret stages, that need to be filled by a target audience. Freed from the concept of the public space because Supergau knows only landscape. Supergau is surface and depth at the same time. Supergau has forest- and meadowscapes, mountainscapes, housescapes, asphalt- and concretescapes. All these and other landscapes can become a stage at Supergau, an artistic field of action. Supergau is a festival that takes place exclusively outdoors.
The biennial festival celebrated its premiere in Flachgau in 2021 and transformed Lungau into a Supergau for contemporary arts in 2023. The festival will continue in Pinzgau in 2025.
Supergau invites artists to take their time for the festival and therefore enables residencies in advance that offer the opportunity to work on site, conduct research and engage in dialogue. The entire creation process, the development of a Supergau dramaturgy and the joint development of content with the participants is an essential part of the festival. This Open Call marks the beginning of the Supergau, which will culminate in the ten-day festival for contemporary arts in late May/early June 2025.
*1 The province of Salzburg is divided into five political districts and one statutory city, the City of Salzburg. The districts are still commonly referred to as Gaue (as landscape areas).
WHO OR WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
- Artistic contributions outdoors
- Artists from various disciplines who will join us in exploring the question of what the countryside can do as an art- and as production-space, what the city cannot do and what new forms of encounter and dialogue we can create here
- Artists engaged with the questions, problems and potentials of this region
- Spatial art that can cover entire meadows, forests, lakes, squares or motorways, for example
- Cross-disciplinary works that enter into collaborations with visitors, residents, local initiatives or associations.
- Mixed teams with participants from fields other than art are possible (e.g. from science, agriculture, health, education, crafts).
LOCATIONS
The third edition will transform Pinzgau into a Supergau for contemporary art. With its 2,641sqm, Pinzgau is the largest district in the province of Salzburg. The festival therefore focusses on the region between Krimml and Zell am See. The following towns are located in this area: Wald im Pinzgau, Neukirchen am Großvenediger, Bramberg, Hollersbach, Mittersill, Stuhlfelden, Uttendorf, Niedernsill, Kaprun and Piesendorf.
A connecting element is the Salzach river, which originates in Vorderkrimml and runs through all the villages in the upper Salzach valley. The Kitzbühel Alps in the north and the Hohe Tauern in the south (highest mountain: Großvenediger, 3,657m) characterise not only the landscape, but also local life. It is a difficult balancing act between ecological protection and economic utilisation of the impressive natural area, large part of which is legally protected as the Hohe Tauern National Park. This makes it necessary for the submissions to deal with possible limitations and restrictions due to nature conservation.
The approximately 40,000 people in this select region live on just under 1000sqkm. Zell am See, with around 10,000 inhabitants, is the district capital of the Pinzgau. Primary economic sectors are tourism and agriculture.
As in many rural regions, the issue of emigration, land use and development, second homes and the effects of climate change on local life and (ski-)tourism also play a role here.
High water and flooding in the villages between Krimml with its waterfalls and Zell am See have led to an increase in protective measures, which are currently being worked on.
Even people from Salzburg often don’t realise that the Pinzgau region has a natural border with Italy. This arduous passage over the Krimmler Tauern was one of the escape routes for Jewish travellers to Italy in 1947 to escape the persistent anti-Jewish climate and set off for Palestine via Trieste.
As in most rural regions of Austria, the local brass bands and folk cultural organisations are firmly anchored in the culture. But there is also room for regional museums and initiatives with venues for contemporary art and culture.
REMUNERATION
The total budget for the Open Call is 220,000 euros. Together with a jury of experts, the artistic director selects projects that can apply within two categories:
A up to €15,000
B up to € 30,000
These two categories are purely indicative and say nothing about the quality and importance of the individual artworks. The categories play no evaluative role whatsoever in the programming, supervision and realisation and are not mentioned even after the judging.
The lump sums stated above must include fees, production and performance costs as well as travelling expenses. These amounts are gross amounts. It is expressly pointed out that the province of Salzburg, as the organiser, attaches great importance to “fair pay” (www.fairpaykultur.at) and that the calculations are explicitly assessed in this respect. Fair, adequate remuneration for all participants is one of the selection criteria.
Supergau provides accommodation and meals for a maximum of 2 people per collective / group during the residencies and invites all participating artists to stay overnight in Pinzgau for the entire festival period (in May/June 2025) (flat-rate accommodation allowance per group).
Applicants are welcome to bring in additional funding from outside sources to support their proposal. The application is open to individuals, groups, or ensembles at any stage of their career.
Applicants must be at least 18 years old.
Supergau offers further support during the preparation and duration of the festival as well as professional marketing and press work.
APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
The remuneration will be processed in the form of a grant from the province of Salzburg. All required documents must be sent as a single PDF file to kultur-wissenschaft[at]salzburg.gv.at by Sunday, 12 February 2024, 23:59 at the latest.
The required PDF with a maximum number of eight pages and a maximum file size of 10 MB must contain the following information:
- Short outline of the project (max. five sentences explaining the essence of the project. The short description is for publication on the Supergau website)
- Project proposal with a description of the project idea and technical realisation
- Cost estimate in accordance with the selected category A or B
- Short CV, e-mail, telephone number, link to website, social media channels (if available)
Multiple submissions of the same project in different categories are not possible. Video work must either be embedded in the PDF or presented using storyboards or screen shots. Only the one PDF file (eight pages) with all required documents will be considered for the evaluation of the submitted work!
TIMELINE
Supergau will take place at the end of May 2025. The preparation period begins with the official announcement of all participants from the Open Call in May 2024.
- Open Call closing date: Monday, 12 February 2024
- Jury meeting: KW 15/2025
- Announcement of selected artists: KW 16/2024
- First residence in Pinzgau: 22.-26. May 2024
- Second residence in Pinzgau: Late September 2024
- Festival: 23 May – 1 June 2025
Organiser: Province of Salzburg
Festival Management: Matthias Ais (Land Salzburg) | Tina Heine (Atelier für Zeitgenossen)
Enquiries about the Open Call can be made by e-mail: kultur-wissenschaft[at]salzburg.gv.at
