For some he is a nest-destroyer, for others for that very reason the "Thomas Bernhard of photography": Lois Hechenblaikner has been holding up a mirror to Alpine mass tourism with his photographs for 30 years now. With the sharp eye of a cultural anthropologist, he led us through the amusement of the pistes and ski huts, showed the après-ski culture that is as disinhibited as it is technically sophisticated and the depletion of the mountain environment by reservoirs and lift facilities - winter sports as a steel bath.

When all of Europe looked to Tyrol last year because the virus was spreading rapidly across the continent from the party temples of the skiing strongholds, Hechenblaikner already had the appropriate book in the drawer. The publication, simply called "Ischgl" and published by Steidl, hit the scene like a bomb.
Hechenblaikner is as eloquent as he is pictorial, and his photo talks are in corresponding demand. In his WestLicht talk as part of the World Press Photo exhibition, he showed pictures from more than two decades of dealing with the winter amusement industry.

It was a great evening!

We thank you all for coming in such large numbers!

Photos: © Christian Skalnik