The Heritage Gate

The Heritage Gate marks the entrance to a future where performance replaces memory. Its baroque façade, adorned with gold-and-white national symbols and shimmering 2.5D reliefs, glorifies Austria as a curated tourism state. Built from timber and stagecraft materials, the structure is both monumental and theatrical – more set piece than sculpture.

Behind the polished front lies a different reality. The reverse side exposes silenced voices: protest slogans, graffiti, and papered-over dissent – repeatedly concealed by layers of whitewash. This is not a neutral gate, but a conflict zone between image and resistance.

Set within a speculative Austria that has abandoned modernity, the country reimagines itself as a Living Heritage State. Citizens perform scripted roles from an idealised imperial past, while Vienna functions as an immersive reenactment—marketed as “Europe’s Most Authentic Nation.”