Jules Spinatsch
Artist statement
Since the 18th century, when some Brits
discovered this conquered territory in the
middle of Europe, the Alps have been
considered the ‘epitome of sublime nature’.
Over the past two centuries, the relatively
untouched mountains have been transformed
into a high-tech event landscape.
The agenda changed dramatically in the last
20 years, when, after decades of growth the
winter sport market began to stagnate in the
1980s. At about the same time the first effects
of what we call today global warming hit the
Alps, resulting in less and less snow every year.
A fierce competition began among winter sports
destinations in order to survive and escape the
effects of global warming for some more years:
it led to (still ongoing) huge investments in
facilities to produce artificial snow and machines
to prepare the slopes perfectly every night.
Further with the introduction of the snowboard
in the late 1980s and other new sports tools,
a young urban lifestyle arrived and prevailed,
turning rustic alpine villages and valleys into
fun parks. Today spectacular events are
organized to promote them, even new sports
disciplines are invented ranging form challenging
to entertaining, from ridiculous to absurd. The
Alpine landscape has become an advertising
arena, were marketing strategists battle for
consumers and visitors simultaneously, while
neglecting to fight the bigger challenge, to find
more sustainable strategies.
The long-term project Snow Management
is a case study of the current winter tourism
industry in the European Alps. It follows a
documentary approach that offers a view
for the drama and poetry of the real while
maintaining an analytical distance, thus
leaving its interpretation open to the viewer.
