Benjamin Reynolds

During the summer of 2023, Benjamin Reynolds (* 1984) conducted research at Manfred Mikls place in Zelting. The houses in Austria's southeasternmost municipality are arranged around a central oval village square, a very rare village structure in Austria.

In his project Wanderhändlerweg (Dealer’s Way), the artist deals with the once flourishing tradition of cultivating and processing flax, one of the oldest cultivated plants, almost lost today. The lengthy and labour-intensive cultivation of flax was common in large parts of Styria (especially in the Ennstal region but also in the area around Bad Radkersburg). The local farmers mainly used it to satisfy their personal needs. The processing of flax into linen textiles represented a significant part of the local culture and economy. At the end of the 19th century, cotton, and later also synthetic fibres, replaced this resilient crop.

Reynolds' project can be seen as an examination of the historical tradition of the itinerant trader, who, among other things, also sold fabrics made from flax linen. These usually well-travelled “peddlers” often toured hundreds of kilometres across Europe on foot to sell their goods in remote settlements. These touring dealers, sometimes regarded with suspicion by locals, also provided an important transfer of knowledge and culture. As cheaper competitors of the local merchants, they were soon faced with massive restrictions, which they tried to circumvent. At some point, many of these traveling traders settled down for economic reasons, highlighting that migration is not a recent phenomenon.

The installation of an oversized, covered Wanderhändlerweg (Dealer’s Way) creates a temporary monument to the tradition of the itinerant trader, which is closely linked to the regional history. In Zelting, located near the border of Austria and Slovenia, the artwork also commemorates early transborder migration movements. By embedding the historical cultivated plant flax, Reynolds accentuates individual parts of the installation as a reminiscence of its once widespread cultivation.