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n Summer 2009, Ottensheim enticed visitors to take the plunge: to immerse themselves in a poetic world that dances to the beat of a different drummer.

Kehrwasser is what Upper Austrians call an eddy, a spot where the flows goes against the main current. In Ottensheim, Kehrwasser stood for a multi-station theatrical performance that lasted 24 hours (or 111 tidal surges) with bathing opportunities during intermissions. A unique local system of time measurement set the pace. Swimmers and non-swimmers discussed the relative merits of remaining high and dry and thus safe and sound, or going off the deep end into the beautiful blue Danube as just the thing to make life worth living. During a stroll along the river, one experienced scenes of a flowing theater: tidal anglers fishing symbols out of the water, book washers ridding texts of their contents, dealers hawking fresh-caught Cs, As and Bs. As a jolly intermezzo, one could gloriously founder in a build-it-yourself watercraft from the paper boat shipyard. One bathed and rocked on the swings; in the evening, one was drawn into the ebb and flow by myths and sagas. One spent the night alfresco on floats, and arose the next morning to a fish breakfast. At noon, everybody was in the water, guests and locals alike, floating downstream back to Linz (some on rafts) accompanied by the strains of the Two Kilometer Music.

Culture Bathing called social conventions and conventional lifestyles into question in a very off-beat, humorous way. With charm and irony (often targeting oneself), the theatrical production gave an account of a utopian society that, thankfully, has little in common with our own, and follows only its own rules and regulations. During the course of pleasant strolls, visitors were confronted with their own criteria and value standards. This was self-questioning with a wink of the eye.


WHAT // Multi-station theater, workshops, swimming to Linz
WHEN // Summer 2009
WHERE // Ottensheim on the Danube
www.kulturbaden.ottensheim.at

IDEA / CONCEPT / PRODUCTION // Kulturverein VODA
PARTICIPANTS // Klaus Hagenauer, Wolfgang “Wodo” Gratt, Susanne Posegga, Joachim Rathke, Nora Dirisamer and Eva Kreinecker, Stefan Rois, Rudolf Habringer, Andreas Jungwirth, Christian “Gigi” Gratt, Martin Glaser, Tom Latzel, Ilona Roth, Veronika Endres, Barbara Mitterlehner, Uli Böker, Hanni Kornfellner, Gabriele Plakolm, Ulli Nö, Ottensheimer Chöre, locals and guests

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