Austrofez

The Austrofez of Friedemann Derschmidt, artist and film-maker from Salzburg, undermines in an ironic and irritating way the attempts of defining once identity through dress, which came back in fashion recently again.
It combines symbols with conflicting cultural overtones: the fez (arabic tarboush), which stands for the Orient according to specific, colonialist interpretation, accompanied by Edelweiss and Gamsbart as regional codes for the Alpine „Heimat“ (homeland). The boundaries between „Oriental“ object and Austrian artisan skill also dissolve in the „Heimat-Shisha“.

he Schladming felt is a reference to the Schladminger popular with the Nazis – a traditional costume created in the first third of the 20th century, which refers to the question of tradition, which is rarely actually a “traditional”.