PHOTOBOOK: KURT HÖRBST – S10ONE OF THE LARGEST ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN AUSTRIA, THE
PHOTOBOOK:KURT HÖRBST–S10
ONE OF THE LARGEST ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN AUSTRIA, THE S10 HIGHWAY, CONNECTS THE UPPER AUSTRIAN MÜHLVIERTEL AREA WITH NEIGHBOURING BOHEMIA. PHOTOGRAPHER KURT HÖRBST HAS DOCUMENTED THE PROJECT WITH HIS TRUSTY CAMERA.
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There is no end to the noise. Day and night, traffic rolls through the town of Rainbach in Mühlkreis with its 3000 inhabitants. Lorries from the Czech Republic pound along the congested road, dwarfing the cars of the local people who make the daily commute to Linz. Congestion and accidents are commonplace.
The photographer Kurt Hörbst lives here, exactly where the Mühlviertler S10 highway is being built. The project is designed to alleviate the difficult traffic situation on the B310, improve local connections and bring the Czech Republic a little closer. However, the plan is not without its critics, who fear a massive increase in traffic and a fragmentation of the countryside.
For Hörbst, the construction of the S10 represents both an intriguing photographic assignment and a subject that is very much close to his heart. “I am especially interested in how the countryside is changing. The interventions are creating a completely new landscape.“ Banks of earth suddenly reach up to the sky as crater-like holes are carved into the ground. Enormous container settlements appear from nowhere and construction equipment is strewn across the landscape. "Sometimes it seems just like a still-life painting.”
Kurt Hörbst assumes the position of a distant observer. He takes his time, watching carefully and discovering a whole new side to his local area. He hauls his large format analog camera and tripod around until he finds a place that particularly interests him. Then he sets up his camera. He watches and waits. He wants to capture as much detail as possible. Blurring the images was certainly not an option.
Looking back, he sees that an incredible amount has changed in the last 30 years. The amount of traffic has certainly increased markedly. Until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, this was not really an issue. He can still remember going for a walk along the road with a doll’s pram as a child. If his son tried the same thing today, it would be a disaster!
The road was temporarily closed recently due to construction work. Suddenly it was quiet for two whole weeks. It was somehow strange, but you could definitely get used to it, reckons Kurt Hörbst. [Text: Julia Langeneder, Photos: Kurt Hörbst]
Mon, 23 May 2016 17:00:37
