The artistic intervention made by Andrea Gassner to mark the anniversary year quotes fragments from Wolf Huber’s most important visual work. Alone the choice of the first name “Wolf“ as the initial typographical visual medium refers semantically to an ambivalent narrative. In the cycle of images for billboards in the James Joyce Passage iconographical quotations from Huber’s visual work are integrated in the capital letters W O L F. Huber liked to make dramatic use of light, shadow, and space. He preferred garish colours and exaggerated facial expressions. The work for the glass cube on Jahnplatz continues the game played with the capital letters of the name W O L F but in three dimensions. Through Gassner’s interpretation of Gothic windows as a frieze of pointed arches the cube mutates into a kind of sacred showcase. The large punched-out letters and the yellow-coloured glass that backs them develop an unusual translucency and an interaction of light and space. *WOLF HUBER* was an important Austrian-German Renaissance painter, printmaker, and architect. Born in Feldkirch in 1485, he worked in Passau from around 1510. In 1540 he became court painter at the bishop’s see there, and in 1541 was appointed Passau town architect. He died on 3 June 1553. *ORNAMENT AND RENAISSANCE* Wolf Huber was one of the most important masters of the Danube School – a Renaissance stylistic movement. It began in the Danube valley area in Austria and Bavaria at the end of the 15th century and extended across a large part of the alpine countries *LIGHT AND SPATIALITY* In terms of content and form light, colour, and space are taken beyond their natural function. Poetry or drama shape the pictures in which nature and human beings blend to create a single entity. Instead of noble restraint, there is strong emotion, instead of harmony distorted proportions. *COLOUR AND EMOTION* Wolf Huber liked to use garish colours and exaggerated facial expressions. Human beings are depicted as vulnerable creatures; not composed but furious or fearful, they do not simply accept but suffer. Even the faces of the animals express deep feelings.

A tree grows in the forest – wood comes from the tree – and the wood becomes a house. The wooden “woodpassage” sculpture placed outdoors in the centre of Europe exemplifies this process. With simple pictographic symbols over forty stages, it conveys the transformation from fir to house. This conversion is shown by the Atelier Andrea Gassner as cuts out of large blocks of wood, cut by cut. The result is a sensory experience; consisting of four wooden gates, 4.32 m wide, 4.32 m high and 8.65 m long, the “woodpassage” expresses a strong three-dimensional message when viewed from afar. Whilst strolling through the cheerfully illuminated passage, it becomes playful ambassador for the ecological advantages of timber construction. *From tree to house!* Experience the walk-in installation. An initiative of proHolz Austria, proHolz Bavaria, Lignum Switzerland *Forests create a good climate and the resource wood.* Through sustainable management, forestry ensures the forest habitat and the availability of wood. The forest area in Europe grows by 1,500 soccer fields every day. Only 2/3 of the growth are actually used. *Wood is available and offers a chance to change resource use.* The construction sector accounts for around 40% of all resources. The use of building products made from renewable raw materials saves and secures resources for the future. About 13 cubic meters of wood were needed for the construction of these 4 gates. This amount grows back in Europe’s forests in 1/2 a second. *Building with wood protects our climate.* The photosynthesis of the trees binds 1 ton of CO2 in 1 cubic meter of wood. Timber buildings extend carbon storage capacity and thus relieve the climate in a sustainable way. About 13 tons of CO2 are permanently bound in the wood of these 4 gates. This corresponds to the pollutant emissions of a passenger car over 8 years.

In keeping with a quote from the famous architect Le Corbusier stating that light and shade reveal the form, this year’s Werkraumschau is presenting products from various workshops of the Werkraum Bregenzerwald in a scenario of spotlights. The Werkraumhaus, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor as a multi-functional building, becomes the stage and the handicrafts the actors in a continually changing play of daylight and artificial light. Stage floodlights generate an immaterial and atmospheric architecture of light, mount the objects in the space, infuse life into their surfaces and forms, and trace a graphical shadowplay on the floor of the building. For the wall sign Andrea Gassner developed a three-dimensional solution using mirrored capital letters which, through the shadows they cast, mutate into a clearly legible word. The Letters were also used as the keyvisual for advertising. We cannot imagine everyday life without light but devote little attention to its phenomena and qualities. Good lighting design makes an essential contribution to our feeling of well-being and can sculpt spaces and furnishings. Visitors are invited to sharpen their own perception at entertaining interactive stations, to test qualities of light and acquire practical knowledge for themselves: how is light output evaluated? What effects does the light temperature have? How can we make things disappear with coloured light? The Werkraumschau is the annual exhibition platform for Werkraum members. The renowned graphics and communication bureau Atelier Gassner based in Vorarlberg was invited to design a thematic and scenographic presentation of the collectively established “shop window” that extends throughout the Bregenz Forest.

The Eine-Welt-Gruppe (One World Group) Schlins | Röns was set up with the aim of aiding people in the southern highlands of Tanzania and, together with them, taking steps towards the kind of development that makes careful use of resources, is close to nature and sustainable. Their goal is the development of communal organization structures for cooperation, self-determination and responsibility. The aim of the exhibition is to raise consciousness with regard to a theme that affects all of us but which we are all too happy to ignore. The basic concept for the exhibition is based on paperhanger tables, which are laid on the floor, used as tables or erected vertically and can then be folded together again like an oversized folder. The tables are an interesting size, measuring 70 cm wide and 300 cm long. At the back the frame is visible and resembles tangled branches or a fragile improvised construction. The exhibition is light, mobile and adaptable. The organigram of this development collaboration is a graphical leitmotif that provides user guidance for the entire exhibition. Each panel documents a single project in the form of brief, authentic, textual descriptions.

The first visit to the air-conditioned “strong-room” in the Stifts-archiv (monastery archive) of St. Gallen with the monastery archivist Peter Erhart was a very special moment. We encountered a fascinating organizational system with chests, drawers, boxes and portfolios for artistically made cards and documents, which may only be handled by those wearing gloves. Then there were the books in the full-height shelving – with the appropriate respect we took down the handwritten originals and the first examples of printed material. The books are medium size, not constrained by any kind of current day standardization, in bindings made of fantastic materials, cardboard, linen and leather. The thread-stitched, hand-bound books could be easily opened and the individual details of the binding conveyed a great understanding of functionality. We were surprised by the unusual form of the areas of text and the layout. In many cases pages were divided vertically in the middle, the outer columns were empty or used only marginally, whereas the columns of text that run into the gutter margin were covered from top to bottom with precise calligraphies in small lettering and with an animated but yet rhythmical expression. The archivist explained to us that this “half-page” system was adopted to leave room for later entries, commentaries and additions. Peter Erhart then showed us the finds that he had selected, which were to be the actual focus of this project: four original diaries kept by travelling monks. The two curators, Peter Erhart and Jakob Kuratli Hüeblin, wanted to present these rare documents of the Benedictine culture of travel to the public for the first time. They planned an exhibition in the culture space of the Stiftsarchiv, an exhibition catalogue and academic publications, with translations of the Latin texts into German and Italian. These diaries are about travels in southern Europe, which in those days were often undertaken by aristocrats, musicians and men of letters, in this case with a religious background and the appropriate travel goals: first of all Rome as a spiritual centre, then on to Naples, regarded at that time as the world’s most beautiful city. “Vedi Napoli e poi muori – Die Grand Tour der Mönche (“See Naples and Die – The Grand Tour of the Monks”), was the title of the project that refers to travels and life, the secular and the spiritual. Reinhard Gassner

Under this title the Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen presents an exhibition about the travel culture of the Benedictines. It offers a view of the monks’ surprising high level of mobility, and their interest in the language and culture of the south at a time when travelling was still an art. The objective is to structure the theme itself as well as the large amount of valuable exhibits (texts and images) and to present them scenographically in a space measuring 600m². The exhibition area is transformed into an urban space with lanes, corners, squares and interiors. The contents are structured and divided up between four boxes that you can walk into. At one and the same time they could be both containers for transport (outside) and studioli (inside) and are ascribed to the four thematic areas Peregrinatio, Instructio, Recreatio and Memorabilia. Essentially, the life of the pieces on display develops inside these boxes. Using specially developed patterns, colours and signets made up of initials the studioli are immersed in a baroque, semiotically charged atmosphere. The design work was preceded by research in the appropriate places and in Rome itself. The interplay between density and calm is developed in a way that is similar to the contrast between the travels of the monks and their usual life based on contemplation and stabilitas loci.

A narrative typography that chatters away cheerfully: the task was to develop a system of graphics for large glazed elements in an administration building. The solution: word games with anagrams. The word anagram comes from the classical Greek “anagraphein” which means to rewrite or write again. A short text provides the letters that serve as the material for repeatedly new word inventions and combinations. The word games are, of course, nonsensical, but it is amusing to follow the transformations and to discover new contents time and time again. The game has a total of c. 3500 transformations, which were carried out in 111 text columns with almost 80.000 adhesive letters, font size 70 points, applied to the glass using a special sandblast film.

»Konstruktive Provokation« (Constructive Provocation) attempts to explain the density of contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg (clearly evident in the immediate surroundings) within the framework of an exhibition and explores frequently asked questions such as »how is that possible?« It describes architecture not as an extract but as a part of a living culture of building in its technical, design-related, social, ecological, hand-craft and personal aspects. Instead of emphasising the works of individual architects and explaining single buildings by means of models and plans, the exhibition tells about the roots and the growth of a broad-based movement that allowed architecture of a high quality to develop. »From rumour to myth: That’s how you could describe the last decades of Vorarlberg architecture.« Dietmar Steiner The exhibition consists of a series of theme-related introductory portals. Various levels of reading allow the visitor to proceed from a general insight to in-depth immersion in the theme. The first level shows photographs by Ignacio Martínez on the fronts of the cubes; short texts augment and explain what is shown. In a second level drawers that can be pulled open and wall elements offer insight into further details and architectures relating to the respective materials.

Eberl Print im Allgäu is a regular partner of Gassner Redolfi that implements ideas in the area of high quality printing. With the 3D E effect and printed packaging material Eberl opened up a new area of business and sought our assistance with the visually equipping of the sample boxes and the design of the firm’s trade fair presence at CO-REACH 2014 – Fair for Crossmedia Marketing in Nuremberg. The basic idea of the trade fair architecture is a huge capital “E”. The horizontal bars extend on the long axis. They define the space while at the same time functioning as an attractive display window that offers interesting views inside and outside. The broad vertical bar of the “E” extends into the depth of the stand throughout its entire height, offering wall area and the necessary storage space. The floor area of the island stand measures 12 x 7 metres. The entire scenography with its spatial intimacy and communicative appeal when seen from different distances achieves an unexpectedly high visitor frequency and is great success at the trade fair. The new sample box “3D E-Elements” also contributed to this success. A continuous word and image landscape that extends across 12 effect cards weaves together, organises and provides samples of the different colour groups, different finishes and various types of paper. The information system is supported by a clear verbal and visual declination.

Working together with architect Alberto Alessi, Zürich, Gassner-Redolfi develops a permanent exhibition in an exhibition space measuring 400 m² in the new administration building of the international timber construction company RUBENS in Kiens, South Tyrol. With the title “Holzperspektiven” (Wood Perspectives) the exhibition tells about the forest, trees and buildings, makes the physical and haptic qualities of wood tangible, and demonstrates the importance of this material for the culture of building, in earlier times and today, both regionally and internationally. The exhibition is a reminiscence of the phenomenon wood, a haptic, spatial narrative about wood, starting from its source as a raw material and extending to different perspectives on how the material can be utilised. This is not a product exhibition but a wood exhibition. It is about the passion for wood which is clearly evident in the RUBNER business and which the exhibition aims to convey.