This video is related to the collective project Winterreise, which included several other videos you can all find on Vimeo.

Text: Elfriede Jelinek, Winterreise – zwei (beginning)
Music: Franz Schubert, Winterreise, “Der Fluss” (piano solo)
Sound: Andrea Chenna

The text takes inspiration from the scandal of the Hypo Alpe Adria, an Austrian bank foundation widespread throughout the Alpine – Adriatic region, combined with Schubert’s song “Die Wetterfahne” (“The Weather-vane”), telling of a flattering girl – a bride-to-be – left behind. The young bride has to be seen here as a metaphor for a bank. The story behind Jelinek’s text: in May 2007, the Bayerische Landesbank bought 50% plus one share of HGAA to 1.63 billion Euros. On 14th December 2009 BayernLB, Kärntner Landesholding and Grazer Wechselseitige Versicherung sold their shares to the Austrian Government to 1 € each. The bank was then nationalized by the Austrian government, ostensibly to avoid a banking collapse, operation at the time advocated mainly by Jörg Haider, the deceased leader of the FPÖ; the consensus is that the loans, worth 13-19 billion Euros, will never be repaid, but eventually end to weigh on Austrian taxpayers.