Monument to Snow. Art installation on the Glungezer

In the Tux Alps, between the summit of the Glungezerg and the Gamslahnerspitze, at an altitude of around 2,600 metres, the Tyrolean artist Esther Strauß has created a place for people to come together and reflect on our relationship with nature.

The artwork, created as part of the RLB Art Prize 2024, combines a subtle, 80-centimetre-wide brass inscription comprising three words with a hiking map and a six-part audio guide. Along the audio stations, which begin directly at the Tulfeinexpress mountain station, scientific findings on climate change are conveyed in an accessible way.

At the same time, the work explores the emotional consequences of these changes: at its heart lies the sorrow over the increasing disappearance of snow – a defining feature of the Alpine landscape, our identity and tourism.

It was created by master metalworker Michael Gassebner. The art installation is situated on an unnamed mountain peak near the Glungezers. The title ‘Monument to Snow’ refers to the poem of the same name by Helwig Brunner. Esther Strauß’s artwork evokes something that has already become a rarity in many places: snow.

The “Monument to Snow” asks how we can come to terms with the losses brought about by the climate crisis: The three words “Monument to Snow” transform the mountain into a plinth. At its highest point, one day – a day that can be anticipated but not predicted – the last snow to fall on this peak may melt.

The ‘Monument to Snow’ total work of art also includes a six-part audio tour. The audio stations are located along the route between the Tulfein mountain station (2,056 m) and the summit of the Glungezers (2,677 m).

The audio stations are equipped with a QR code that can be used to access the audio texts: “Drawing on scientific findings, the audio texts invite listeners to explore the impact of the climate crisis on our souls. The walk to the ‘Monument to Snow’ offers an opportunity to be together along the way and to engage in conversation,” explains the artist, adding: “Above all, the audio texts deal with ‘ecological grief’ – grief over the environment. The focus is on the performative nature of grief, which also presents an opportunity in relation to the climate crisis.” Esther Strauß wrote the audio texts based on conversations with the experts Georg Kaser (climate researcher), Maria Streli-Wolf (bereavement counsellor), Harald Schellander (meteorologist at GeoSphere Austria) and Evelyn Kustatscher (palaeobotanist and head of the Natural History Collections at the Tyrolean State Museums).

The audio files can be downloaded in advance. See the link below

It is undisputed that the Alps are currently the region most severely affected by rising temperatures and glacier melt. Scientists have been documenting the climate crisis in the Alps has been documented for decades on the basis of glacier melt. Between 1969 and 2015, 40 per cent of all glaciers in Austria were lost – in a few decades they will have disappeared completely.

But snowfall is also decreasing. When the Glungezer Hut was built in 1932/33 as the starting point for the first FIS World Ski Championships, its downhill run – which later became legendary – stretched 16 kilometres down to Karlskirche in the Inn Valley. Today, this route is very rarely covered in snow for its full length. Even passionate ski tourers deeply regret this, as the run is also Tyrol’s longest ski tour.

“We know that the climate crisis is man-made. Many of us find it difficult to accept this fact and act accordingly. Perhaps our grief over what we have lost and what we are yet to lose can help us move from knowledge to understanding and finally to action. Perhaps a monument that mourns a loss that has not yet fully occurred comes just at the right time. And perhaps a monument that comes to us from the future can help us to rewrite the future,” says Esther Strauß. After all, monuments usually commemorate people, events or things that are already in the past.

Esther Strauß (born 1986 in Tarrenz) is a performance and language artist. In her works, she deliberately employs gaps and secrets. What her works conceal is just as important as what they reveal. She has exhibited internationally, including at the Freud Museum in London, Perdu in Amsterdam and TAXISPALAIS Kunsthalle Tirol. Her works are occasionally referenced in texts by Elfriede Jelinek and Katy Hessel. She has received numerous awards, most recently the RLB Art Prize 2024, the Paul Flora Prize 2022 and the BMKOES State Scholarship 2021. Since 2015, Strauß has been teaching at the University of Art and Design Linz, exploring how artists can speak, write and remain silent about their own work.