Krauthügel Art Project Webcam in Salzberg

Art is meant to stimulate your grey cells. And, on occasion, make you question what it is you’re looking at or even what was in the mind of the artist when they created it. The view on this feed streaming from a location in Salzburg known as the Krauthügel will have you asking both of those questions and more while scratching your head in a bout of possible puzzlement.

Krauthügel is a patch of undeniably verdant land bordered by a cemetery and several historic buildings including a Benedictine monastery and an old folks home. Has learning those simple facts helped with your art-inspired confusion? Probably not. Consider that Krauthügel translates to cabbage hill in English and the plot thickens. While historically this may have been land used for agricultural purposes to provide produce for hungry monks, take note. There are no cabbages to be seen anywhere or herbs come to that even though the cottage in the middle of this plot of land is – the herb keeper’s house.  

Discount the trees and grass being classed as art, there’s no topiary or mower-created patterns here.  So what’s going on? After several years of successful, temporary summertime sculptor exhibitions on the Krauthügel, American artist, Paul Wallach, has left a more lasting mark on the Salzburg landscape. Still can’t see it? Look again and you’ll spot the misshapen, four-pointed concrete star surrounded by a patch of dead grass. While it can be used for seating and pensive contemplation, if at finally seeing this sculpture, you’ve suddenly gone – what, is that it? – that’s understandable. But still, art is really all about making you think and this certainly will.