The Abandoned Barn

Farming has changed dramatically in the Alps. Barns reflect and accompany this transformation. In villages and open landscapes, more and more barns are abandoned, used for other purposes, or falling into disrepair. Contemporary farmers build new barns for stockbreeding, fruit storage, and wine pressing. Ruins, converted buildings, and new barns are altering the appearance of villages, settlements, and landscapes. This exhibition explores the architecture and sociology of barns in South Tyrol, the Grisons, and Vorarlberg. The exhibition and its catalogue present similarities and differences between the three topographically comparable, yet culturally or historically dissimilar territories. They bid farewell to barns and depict their future: they will either go to rack and ruin, be converted into art galleries, car parks, or residential buildings, or simply be sold as valuable cubature.
The exhibition and the catalogue are a co-production by Das Gelbe Haus Flims, Vorarlberger Architektur Institut (vai), Merano arte, La Tuor Samedan, Bündner Heimatschutz, and the magazine Hochparterre.