UnConvention

Unconventional. Against the mainstream. Counter-culture. Against those up there? When one thinks of this term in the context of the Salzkammergut, something obvious comes to mind: Independent. Stubborn. Resistant. Whether reality or cliché, somehow the idea of the unconventional and of demarcation against central power (also a legacy of Protestantism?), against appropriation and conformity seems to be associated with this region – even if it is perhaps only half the truth. This concerns the history of the region, especially the history of a regional workers’ culture that came into opposition and resistance to National Socialism. And it concerns the emphasis on what is special and unique about the region – right up to tourism marketing. It concerns youth cultures and cultural initiatives that fought (or fought) for a place for a different, own culture – also against the dominating power of traditionalism and “folk culture ideology”. It concerns resistance against the raging madness of a development of growth and civilisation that has gone off the rails. A resistance that expresses itself in various forms of drop-out and withdrawal: as a flight to the countryside or as a retreat to ideal islands and closed communities. It concerns independent music cultures and literary experiments beyond the mainstream of the music industry, whose protagonists find their own artistic and musical forms of expression – from the underground to folk music. The forms of expression and manifestation of the unconventional to the point of countercultural are endless. They can also be found in this region in particular.