WEEK 1 PROGRAMM: FIELDTRIPS

WORKSHOP ON TOUR A major feature of PAO.5 are the four extensive trips in week 1. By bus, we will cross through completely different landscapes, from the plains up to the mountains – the complete profile of the Banat region, including Danube river and mountain mining areas. This will present an ethnographical cross-section with an immense variety of cultures, crafts, and architectural styles. So, for the first week of the workshop, the general idea is: working on-tour. Driving around by bus, we shall collect and document everything we need for the further (re)work in Potoc village: drawings, photographs, movies, interviews etc. We inform our projects and establish the contacts necessary for them. Thereafter, in Potoc village, there will follow one intensive week of creative production. However, everybody is invited to bring an idea to the workshop from home, to think about a potential project already in advance. So there is a chance for preparation even before the actual workshop starts.


APPROACH: ACROSS THE BANAT PLAINS
Day 1 (Monday, August 24th)

The tour leads through the Southern part of the Banat Plains towards the Serbian border near Moravitza, further on eastwards through the hills and mountainregion close to Orawitza and, finally, to Potoc. On the way we cross the type of villages as is typical for these plains: rectangular layout and settlement structures, which comprise a lot of ethnic diversity – Romanians, Serbs, Germans, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Slovaks live here. Those structures are the result of the colonial politics of 18th century Hungaro-Austrian Empire, which has settled skilled workers from all parts of the empire in this place. –
In the Banat Plains, the major architectural typology is the house made of stamped clay without an open, column-flanked walkway (prispa). This type was replaced in the 19th century with a house-type made of burnt bricks – the typology which was mostly employed by the Germans who had settled in the North-Western Banat. In the Southern parts, however, there are rather mixed typologies to be found.

1st ROUNDTRIP: HILLSIDE AROUND ORAVITZA & MOUNTAINSIDE OF RESITA AND ANINA
Day 2 (Tuesday, August 25th)

Through the hills and fruit farms near Oravitza the tour goes to the North – to the mountainside and the villages of the so-called “Kraschowans” (Croatians, Serbs, Macedonians). This is the most industrialised region of the Banat with a mining-tradition dating back more than 200 years. In the cities mostly Czech (Bohemians), Slovak and Austrian miners were settled. As in the villages today the dominating labour is agriculture again, the breakdown of mining industries and all the problems connected to the structural change after 1989 become especially obvious in the former mining cities. –
The houses of the miners are simple and arranged in order to save as much space as possible. On an area of 12m x 7m the kitchen, living room, sleeping room and stable are arranged. The rich supply of natural resources like wood and easy-to-cut limestone has lead to a great variety of architectural styles and ways of construction.

2nd ROUNDTRIP: THE ALMAJ-VALLEY
Day 3 (Wednesday, August 26th)

Near Oravitza we descend through the Anina-mountainside down to the Almaj-valley. On the way, there are two major points for pilgrimage in the Banat mountain region: the Pilgrimage Church of Maria Ciclova and the Calugera-monastery. In the isolation of the Almaj-Valley many architectural relics were preserved, for instance the 2-room house made of wood, or the complex of watermills of Eftimie Murgu. As a dominant settlement structure on finds villages arranged along the street respectively along the riverstreams. Further, on the hilltops one finds scattered-layout villages. From the end of the valley, the tour leads back to Potoc village via the Locvei-peaks through the mining villages of Carbunari and Sasca Montana. –
The Southern Banat is the only place in Europe where so called “Spoon Mills” exist in a larger number and a variety of uses. These wooden predecessors of the Pelton turbines with their horizontal spoon-wheels were used for the milling of crops, for the production of electricity, as pump-stations, or for the rural textile production. Still today, there are about 150 working spoon-mills.

3. ROUNDTRIP: THE BORDER REGION ALONG DANUBE RIVER
4th Day (Thursday, August 27th)

From Potoc the tour leads westwards to the Serbian border. This region became rich in the 1990s by petrol dealing with Yugoslavia. The villages are mixed Romanian-Serbian. Near Moldava-Veche the Danube river extends to a remarkable width because of being dammed the “Iron Gate”. Short after begins the Donauklamm (Clisura) where the street leads up the lime-stone rocks of the Carpaths. The geostrategical position of the Danube-gorge at the entrance of the “Porta Orientalis” has since ancient times attracted the most diverse tribes and folks, some of which have settled here. –
In the region of the “Iron Gate” and the Donauklamm, Banat ethnocultural elements overlap with those of Mehedintz and Oltenia. One may find house of the type called “cula” which are arranged around a courtyard in order to form a fortress-like structure. The traditional timber-architecture was more and more subdued by stone-architectures by the 19th century. Still there are timber houses in the region of the Senn huts (“salase”) and in the Czech-Bohemian scatter settlements around Sichevita. Here, the “House with Two Rooms” is still a widely used form of living.