Call for Proposals
On behalf of their 100th anniversary the Montafoner Railway along with the Kunstforum Montafon call for artistic proposals to renew the railway stations design or intervene with the existing formation of the station premises and buildings such as Schruns, Tschagguns, Kaltenbrunnen, Vandans and St. Anton i.M. Budget per station may not exceed 12.000,- euro including tax. The call is open to any Austrian citizen and unrestricted in terms of artistic material.

Proposal Richard Jochum
Every participating station's facade will be re-painted. The particular color is to be picked by the community of the neighboring village.

Realization
Each community member older than 6 and living within the commuter belt of the affected 5 stations gets a color palette to choose his/her 3 favorite colors from an array of 256. The favorite color of the neighboring community will be ascertained and taken to paint the stations' building - starting with the building in the very back of the valley - moving towards the station to the front of the valley till the full circle is concluded.

In recognition of local architectural conditions such as sockets and pedestials a 20 percent darker tone may apply.

A color palette is going to be provided by the artist (see above).

Remarks
The project as proposed is an artistic intervention in the public space. The participation of the entire population within the particular muncipialities is what the project is aiming for. The partipating communities are invited to shape their own public space: (1) through partaking within the survey, (2) through the uprising discussion that is to be expected (short- and long-term).

The outcome will be 5 different colors which are going to be used to paint the station buildings of the neighboring villages; which will subsequently turn into sculptures of the participation processess.

The objectives to put the decision about the particular colors into the hands of the communities of the adjacent villages is fourfold. (1) First of all it symbolizes an imagery of travelling from one station to the next (and so forth). (2) Secondly it gets hold of the pattern of local communication structures as such. Given the typology of village communities within a particular valley it is evident that they find their own identity in segreggation and association (through sometimes real, more often ficitious, constructed differences as they reverberate through jokes, weird little stories etc.). The project not only mirrors this practice, it also further constructs it.

(3) When it comes to pick a color for a facade decision making is rarely limited by one owns taste but usually a compromise between a more personal choice and a (rather fictitious) general taste. This dilemma is compelling, the proposed project only tries to railroad the community to the conflict.

(4) In recent years the architecture of Western Austria has become a role model for innovation and excellence. Facade color is not architecture itself, especially when it comes to shape, nevertheless shapes and attracts our perception of public spaces. An exciting, if not skirmish tpye of proposal may grant public discourse in a vibrant context of new architure.

Title of the Proposal
“Be bold, pick a color! A sculpture of participation."

Technique
Public survey / emulsion paint