The signs are collapsing, and no longer certain
In “The signs are collapsing, and no longer certain”, Juri Velt explores the potentiality of language to shape our sense of and sensibility towards changing landscapes through toponyms—names of small geographical units defined by a specific feature, connected to a past or present moment of the place.
Toponyms hold information and the potential to transmit the knowledge they carry, informing us about what the landscape experienced.
Exemplified through the topography of the Austrian Alps, “the signs are collapsing, and no longer certain” poses the question of what toponyms will tell us in the substantially altered world ours is currently becoming—when, for example, the Lahnbach (“slush-stream”) only carries crumbly dust.
Photographs and text document Juri Velt’s interventions in the city of Schwaz, Austria: Signs made of unburnt clay with toponyms written on them, mounted on metal poles. The toponym signs are understood as being traces themselves, slowly dissolving over time, leaving behind metal brackets as a record of their existence.
Mehr lesen: Blogbeitrag auf klimakultur.tirol (GER)
Published via SPACE ISSUES x SOMETHING FANTASTIC (book) and KOOZARCH (excerpt of the essay)
An essay by Ann Lee Benedict on the work, published in; Sandberg Instituut Graduation Exhibition 2023 Publication, titled Perpetual Stew
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00/00/2023
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Haag
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Haag is a toponym referring to a piece of land enclosed by a living hedge, often with a meager farmyard. A living hedge typically consists of greenery with thorns; Haga is also the haw—in hawthorn. The toponym often refers to areas created by clearing woods in
the Middle Ages. A Haag was usually located on the edge of a settlement, and its hedge marked the border between cultivated, human-controlled land and what was beyond.
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Minkusfeld
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Minkusfeld is a toponym for a newly developed residential housing estate. Minkus refers to the Minkusschlössel (Minkus’ Manor) southwest of it, with Minkus being the surname of one of its former owners, and Feld means field. Until the start of construction, the Minkusfeld was used for agricultural purposes. The Minkusfeld residential complex consists of 71 two- to four-room apartments, completed in 2023.
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Pirchanger
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Pirchanger is a toponym for a common land with birch trees. While Pirch stands for birch, Anger refers to a jointly owned pasture. Buildings surrounding an Anger often orientate themselves towards it. An Anger was typically a part of an Allmende, a system of communal land ownership in which villagers collectively managed shared resources such as meadows, pastures, and forests. An Anger served not as a field for food production but as grazing land for animals and a space for communal gatherings, sometimes supported by shared infrastructure like washing facilities or a bread oven. Starting in the late medieval period and intensifying during the Enclosure Movement, communal lands like Anger were increasingly enclosed and divided into private (building) plots.
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Nasstal
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Nasstal is a toponym for a vale, later also used as a street name. Nass can be translated as wet, and Tal as vale or valley. The toponym likely refers to the shaded position of and moist sensation
in the vale, which, through its location, is sun-deprived and in a place where cold winds from the woods above glide through.
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Lahnbach
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Lahnbach is a toponym for a flowing body of water and its immediate surroundings. Lahn(e), an old term for avalanches, is commonly found in Alpine toponyms in areas where land-, snow-, or mudslides frequently occurred. Bach is a brook. Melting snow in spring and thunderstorms in summer regularly caused the Lahnbach to flood its surrounding areas with water, stones, boulders, debris, and wood. The material the brook thus brought into the center of the settlement was used to build a wall around the Lahnbach and to (re)construct surrounding houses. Today, the torrent is stabilized by retaining walls and step-pool structures made out of concrete and stones.
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Kraken
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Kraken is a toponym for a district. In the 16th century, many huts and houses of the silver mine workers were located on the Kraken, as it was close to the mines‘ entrances. While Kraken —as a name— is the same as the one of the mythical sea monster, in a toponymic context, it could be derived from older Germanic or Scandinavian roots and means something like crooked or twisted. The word likely refers to the complex tunnel system located underneath the area. A few old Knappenhäuser (miners’ houses) remain at the Kraken, while most gave way to new residential buildings.
Haag
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Haag is a toponym referring to a piece of land enclosed by a living hedge, often with a meager farmyard. A living hedge typically consists of greenery with thorns; Haga is also the haw—in hawthorn. The toponym often refers to areas created by clearing woods in
the Middle Ages. A Haag was usually located on the edge of a settlement, and its hedge marked the border between cultivated, human-controlled land and what was beyond.
Minkusfeld
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Minkusfeld is a toponym for a newly developed residential housing estate. Minkus refers to the Minkusschlössel (Minkus’ Manor) southwest of it, with Minkus being the surname of one of its former owners, and Feld means field. Until the start of construction, the Minkusfeld was used for agricultural purposes. The Minkusfeld residential complex consists of 71 two- to four-room apartments, completed in 2023.
Pirchanger
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Pirchanger is a toponym for a common land with birch trees. While Pirch stands for birch, Anger refers to a jointly owned pasture. Buildings surrounding an Anger often orientate themselves towards it. An Anger was typically a part of an Allmende, a system of communal land ownership in which villagers collectively managed shared resources such as meadows, pastures, and forests. An Anger served not as a field for food production but as grazing land for animals and a space for communal gatherings, sometimes supported by shared infrastructure like washing facilities or a bread oven. Starting in the late medieval period and intensifying during the Enclosure Movement, communal lands like Anger were increasingly enclosed and divided into private (building) plots.
Nasstal
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Nasstal is a toponym for a vale, later also used as a street name. Nass can be translated as wet, and Tal as vale or valley. The toponym likely refers to the shaded position of and moist sensation
in the vale, which, through its location, is sun-deprived and in a place where cold winds from the woods above glide through.
Lahnbach
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Lahnbach is a toponym for a flowing body of water and its immediate surroundings. Lahn(e), an old term for avalanches, is commonly found in Alpine toponyms in areas where land-, snow-, or mudslides frequently occurred. Bach is a brook. Melting snow in spring and thunderstorms in summer regularly caused the Lahnbach to flood its surrounding areas with water, stones, boulders, debris, and wood. The material the brook thus brought into the center of the settlement was used to build a wall around the Lahnbach and to (re)construct surrounding houses. Today, the torrent is stabilized by retaining walls and step-pool structures made out of concrete and stones.
Kraken
Sign, unburnt clay Bracket, aluminium 12,5 cm x 50 cm May 2023
Kraken is a toponym for a district. In the 16th century, many huts and houses of the silver mine workers were located on the Kraken, as it was close to the mines‘ entrances. While Kraken —as a name— is the same as the one of the mythical sea monster, in a toponymic context, it could be derived from older Germanic or Scandinavian roots and means something like crooked or twisted. The word likely refers to the complex tunnel system located underneath the area. A few old Knappenhäuser (miners’ houses) remain at the Kraken, while most gave way to new residential buildings.