Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
Aufsätze - Günter Dinhobl: Prologue for “Railway / Culture”
Günter Dinhobl analyses the specific links between cultures and railways with the help of the actor- network approach. With reference to the concept of valency (“Verkehrswertigkeit”) Stefan Zeilinger investigates the meaning of speed using the examples of high speed trains. One of our workshops took place in a special room of the Western Railway Station’s ticket hall in Vienna. One wall in this room is made of glass and has an ideal view of the bustling activities in the railway hall: people coming and going, waiting, meeting each other, discussing, saying good-bye and are happy to see each other again. The scientific approach to the phenomenon railway is one of many: artists were also invited to this workshop to present their work. Wolfgang Kessler not only showed his paintings “Zwischenräume” (,In-Between Spaces'), but also presented his ideas for discussion (see his paper in this volume). The participants of Labyrinth, an association of English-Language Poets in Vienna, were invited by Dr. Gerhard Strohmeier to accompany the workshop with lyric contributions accompanied by music. Listening to their poems and music while viewing the station hall and overcoming the boarders between art and science left behind a vivid impression. The spoken poems by Arlette Abrahamian, Hillary Keel, Heidelinde Lin- dorfer, Peter Waugh and Gerhard Hufnagel (also responsible for the musical arrangements) are now printed and mediate between the chapters. I hope that the readers of this volume are also inspired to wander with their views across boarders. I I would like to thank all authors and people who supported me in the workshop series and publication of this volume. Dr. Gerhard Strohmeier deserves very special thanks as the project leader of the FWF-funded research-project mentioned above: without his intercession and advice neither research project nor workshop series would have taken place. In addition, he provided the freedom which is necessary for research and which I would not have found anywhere else but at the IFF. An extensive project like this international workshop series would not have been possible without financial support. Dr. Christina Lutter from the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, and Culture (BMBWK, www.bmbwk.gv.at ) had an uncomplicated manner for making the workshop-series’ .material' basis possible. Thanks also to Roswitha Pogner and Dagmar Ferstl (both IFF) who supported me with their organisational talents and took care of refreshments during the workshops. 20
