ELISABETH HÖLZL
By means of the Bristol, re-opened in 1954 and lauded in countless newspaper articles as the „most
modern and elegant hotel in Europe“, the venetian shipping-company owner Arnaldo Bennati wanted to
turn Merano into a second St. Moritz. He invested enormous sums in his dream – and failed. Left
behind is the ruin of a formerly luxury hotel which is passage in contemporary history. Because the
Bristol reflects the decline of a decadent Habsburg Monarchy, the megalomania of of Mussolini’s
fascism, the infamous treaty of 1939 between Hitler and Mussolini, the brief sparks of Italian national
pride in South Tyrol after World War II, and the invasion of the mass tourists who radically changed the
face of the Alps. Stars and starlets, gamblers and speculators, Europe’s moneyed aristocracy, and a
future pope – the all appeared at the Bristol disappeared again.
For more than two years, Elisabeth Hölzl visited the abandoned Hotel Bristol in Merano short before
demolition. Her intention was not so much to soberly document the building, but rather to keep a diary
of the relationship the artist developed to the mysterious place in the centre of her city. From close up,
her camera brushes against the surfaces of the rooms and gets caught on details – the backs of chairs,
mirrors, velvet curtains, or white covers. This closeness adds a sensual naturalness to her pictures, a
though one could wipe the dust off the furniture with one’s fingers. Commercial pictures filter spots out
of faces and cracks out of buildings, whereas the mimetic sensuality of these photographs is derived
exactly from such blemishes.
Her approach to Hotel Bristol follows the logic of a self-reflective ethnographic eye. An abandoned hotel
that lacks apparent architectural quality could be considered a synonym for a worthless object, bound to
be destroyed with impunity. Elisabeth Hölzl conveys a symbolic meaning to these rooms that are
destined for oblivion by underlining their patina as a special atmospheric quality.
In a first step, Elisabeth Hölzl gathered a collection of photographs; then she decided the criteria for
sorting and finally presenting her material. By the format and the sequence of the selected photographs,
the artist interprets the archive which bestows an order, but no semantic classification system. These
formal decisions that determine even the layout of the book Hotel Bristol are influenced by the
knowledge the artist acquired by lingering at the photographed place. What might have been an
architectural documentation becomes also the interpretation of a building. Floor by floor, the same
ground plan is repeated, and there is the same sequence of green, red, yellow, and purple painted
rooms, so room number 210 is exactly underneath room number 310 and is identical with room number
410.
Further the photographic series also shows the progressive demolishing of the hotel, the chronological
order of is gradual divestment. Little by little, the carcass emerges, and the tectonics beneath the
luxurious texture of the early years, aesthetically heightened by advertisements and newspaper reports,
are exposed. For another fifteen years, the Bristol still stood there, empty. Its white marble was filthy, its
shutters hung crooked, its windows were as blunt as blind eyes. In 2006, the excavators and pneumatic
hammers approached to shatter the last residues of a dream – and make space for a residential and
business centre with a supermarket and shopping arcades, but without a story to tell.
Buildings are designed as strong images that must be replaced by others as soon as they have lost
their signal character; Las Vegas is he best-known example for hat. They are like old ocean liners – no
one would bother restoring or converting them. After they have been used, ships become scrap metal,
and hotels are gutted and torn down. Elisabeth Hölzl counters this consumerist logic of our times by a
contemplative occupation of space. In doing so, she does not call for the rescue of a building, but
confines herself to the gesture of showing. She approaches the hotel as though it were a stranded
whale, the looming death of which she cannot deny. Her emphatic photographs indicate that a city that
regards its architecture as an inert structural mass forsakes its identity.
Extracts of the catalogue “Hotel Bristol”
www.artMbassy.com | Elisabeth Hölzl
ELISABETH HÖLZL
Born 1962 in Meran
She lives and works in Meran.
Education
2004
2003
1982-1986
Stipendium der Kulturabteilung der Provinz Bozen für La Havana, Kuba
Stipendium der Kulturabteilung der Provinz Bozen für New York
Studium der Skulptur an der Kunstakademie Bologna
Solo Exhibitions
2008
2007
2006
2004
2003
2002
2001
1997
1996
1994
1991
1990
1989
Hotel Bristol, Gallery artMbassy
Hotel Bristol, Faszination einer Entkleidung, Antonella Cattani
Contemporary Art, Bozen/Italy
Die Zeit der Anderen, Project of time code, Bozen/Italy
Bristol Wallpapers, Vissidarte Festival, Meran/Italy
The plot, Gallery Les Chances de L’Art, Bozen/Italy
focused 2, Gallery Walderdorff, Köln/Germany
focused 1, Gallery Les Chances de L’Art, Bozen/Italy
Twilight, Gallery Museum, Bozen/Italy
Elisabeth Hölzl, Gallery Elisabeth und Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck/Austria
mittag mitternacht morgen abend, artForum Gallery, Meran/Italy
nell’occhio del ciclope, Care of, Cusano Milanino/Italy
Arti visive proposte, Unione culturale, Turin/Italy
Care of , Cusano Milanino/Italy
Gallery Mèta, Bozen/Italy
Villa Traversi, Desio, Installations
Group Exhibitions
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
solo 24 ore / nur 24 Stunden, Art and Performance, Museion, Bozen/Italy
Rosengarten, Antonella Cattani Contemporary Art, Bozen/Italy
Die Kunst des Alterns/l’arte del invecchiare, ArgeKunst Gallery Museum,
Bozen/Italy
Suoni e visioni, Italienisches Kulturinstitut, Hamburg/Germany
Ti voglio bene, from Italy with love, Raid projects, Los Angeles/USA
Fuori tema/italian feeling XIV Quadriennale di Roma,
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome/Italy
Suoni e visioni, Roberto Rotta Farinelli, Geneva/Italy
In faccia al mondo, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Vila Croce, Geneva/Italy
Warm up, Galleria Neon, Bologna/Italy
Artsound, Festival Musica del ´900, Trento/Italy
Projekt Schwaz Ost, Neue Stadtgalerie Schwaz
Künstlerbrücken, Installation Reschenbrücke, Bozen/Italy
Kunst und Kur / Arte e cura, Kunst Merano Arte, Meran/Italy
Radar, Fotografy and Video in South Tirol, Stadtgalerie, Bozen/Italy
Augenlust, Zimmer 204, Hotel Greif, Bozen/Italy
vette e orizzonti, Palazzo Trentini, Trento/Italy
eine woche, Studio Gerber 43, Bozen/Italy
www.artMbassy.com | Elisabeth Hölzl
1999
1998
1996
1994
1993
1992
1990
1987
Atlante, Geografie, storia della giovane arte italiana; MACS, Sassari/Italy
42 videos d’Artistes Italiens, Gallery Esca, Milhaud/France
Phänomen des Flüchtigen, kultur. raum. spitalskirche, Linz/Austria
Phänomen des Flüchtigen/ L’Effimero, Palais Esplanade, Meran/Italy
Laboratorio, Gallery Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Trento/Italy
É una modesta proposta, rassegna di arte in video, Fabrika, Spazio
temporaneo d’Arte, Rovereto/Italy
Silence Age ,sei meditazioni oltere il rumore, Chiostri di San Domenico,
Reggio Emilia/Italy
ARTrans, Bestimmung des Zwischenraums, Kammerhofgalerie, Gmunden
Video 11 Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck/Austria
Aquart Palais Esplanade, Meran/Italy
Modernità, Progetto 2000, Fondazione Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin/Italy
Stanze, Villa Mazzotti, Chiari/Italy
Grosse Kunstausstellung Haus der Kunst, München/Germany
Nuova Officina Bolognese, Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana/Slovenia
La scultura, uno scultore, un’opera , Studio G7, Bologna/Italy
Panorama, Messepalast, Bozen/Italy
Se una notte d’inverno un viaggatore Castel Nuovo di Noarna,
Rovereto/Italy
Trattative con Euclide , Spazio Temporaneo, Milan/Italy
Misure Perplesse/ Aus dem Staunen, ArgeKunst Gallery Museum,
Bozen/Italy
Nuova Officina Bolognese Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna/Italy
Villa Gioiosa Villa Gioiosa, Cormano/Italy
Opere su carta, Studio G7, Bologna/Italy
Under 35, Arte Fiera, Bologna/Italy
Projects and Art in Public Space
2005
2002
2001
2000
Fotografien im Roma Camp für „Sinti und Roma, eine Spurensuche“,
Arunda 67
ne stè a vene tüa tera, tüa vita Außengestaltung, Museum Ladin, Ciastèl
de Tor
acqua Wandgestaltung, Acquaprad, Nationalpark Stilfser Joch
escaping blue, Villen am Lohbach, Parkplatzgestaltung, Innsbruck
Bibliography
Andreas Spiegl, die Ausnahme ist die Regel, cat. Ausstellung Focused, Galerie Les Chances
de L’Art, Bozen.
Letizia Ragaglia, frammentati ed emozionati, Edith Moroder Radar, cat. Ausstellung Radar,
Stadtgalerie Bozen.
Marion Piffer, Jeder Tag ist eine neue Welt, ein neuer Kalender; Luca Scarabelli e
Margaretha Zelle, in giro, quasi fine millennio, cat. Ausstellung Twilight, Galerie Museum,
Bozen 2001.
Giovanna Nicoletti, il luogo e la natura, la vetta e gli orizzonti, in cat. mostra vette e orizzonti,
Trento.
Marion Piffer Damiani, AltoAdige: ritratto introduttivo con opinioni e testimonianze, in cat.
mostra Atlante , G.Politi Editore 1999.
www.artMbassy.com | Elisabeth Hölzl
Paola Jori, L‘occhio del ciclope, in cat. Mostra Laboratorio, Trento 1998; M. Medaglia, F.
Tedeschi, Quí, lá, ovunque, cat. Viconago 1998.
Valerio Dehó, Silenzio, sei meditazioni oltre il rumore, cat. Reggio Emilia 1997; Andreas
Hapkemeyer, Modernitá, cat.. Torino 1996.
Paola Jori, mittag mitternacht morgen abend, cat. ArtForum Gallery, Merano 1996.
Walter Guadagnini, Marion Piffer, Franz Thaler, Panorama, cat. Bolzano 1993.
Ginevra Grigolo, Rosalba Pajano, G7 presenta G7, La Scultura, cat. Bologna 1993.
Walter Guadagnini, Delle Differenze , Misure Perplesse, cat., Museumgalerie, Bolzano 1992.
Adriano Altamira, Trattative con Euclide, cat. Spazio Temporaneo, Milano 1992.
Roberto Daolio, Walter Guadagnini, Dario Trento, Nuova Officina Bolognese, cat. Galleria
d‘Arte Moderna, Bologna, 1991.
Francesco Poli, Unione Culturale, Torino, 1991.
Bianca Tosati, Villa Gioiosa, cat., Cormano, 1991.
Elisabetta Longari, Come salvaere lo spazio, cat. Galleria Méta, Bolzano 1990.
Patrizia Serra, Elisabeth Hölzl, Luca Scarabelli, cat. Care of, Cusano Milanino.
Camillo Ravasi, Accadimenti Silenti, Galleria La Meridiana, Agrate 1989.
www.artMbassy.com | Elisabeth Hölzl
Selected work from the seria Hotel Bristol
Bristol, Digital C-Print on Aluminium, Photography, 40x60 cm, 2006/8
Suite 316, Digital C-Print on Aluminium, Photography, 100x145 cm, 2005/8
www.artMbassy.com | Elisabeth Hölzl
Chairs white, Digital C-Print on Aluminium, Photography, 40x60 cm, 2006/8
Sea of the saloon, Digital C-Print on Aluminium, Photography, 70x100 cm, 2005/8
www.artMbassy.com | Elisabeth Hölzl