Set in Austrias Hohe Tauern mountains, it spread across a valley and climbed up two vertiginous hillsides.
Last July, I finally set out to see it for myself.
Beginning with the Celts in the fourth century B.C., it was a gold-mining area.
From left: The view from Haus Hirt Hotel & Spa, in Bad Gastein; the pool at the hotel.Credit:From left: Robert Kittel/Courtesy of Haus Hirt; Cathrine Stukhard/Courtesy of Haus Hirt
Royals, including Sisi, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, came to its sanatoriums to take the waters.
The town was going bankrupt, and it was a disaster, Evelyn Ikrath told me.
But sometimes, if the right seeds are planted, beautiful things can grow.
From left: Opening night at sommer.frische.kunst; Andrea von Goetz, the curator of sommer.frische.kunst, and her assistant, Jonah Kittelmann, with artwork by Andi Fischer.Courtesy of Sommer.Frische.Kunst
In 2011, von Goetz and the group also startedsommer.frische.kunst(summer.fresh.art.
), an artist-residency program at Kraftwerk.
The walk is meant as a sort of treasure hunt or pilgrimage, Evelyn Ikrath told me.
From left: A sitting area at the Cōmodo hotel; the waterfall in Bad Gastein.From left: Courtesy of Design Hotels; Getty Images
You could spend several days hiking to find them.
The walking tour and the fair made the art scene feel playful and interactive.
Gisela Clement, who owns a women-artist-focused gallery in Bonn, Germany, told me something similar.
Harfen, a sculpture by Olaf Holzapfel, as seen on walking tour around Bad Gastein, Austria.Florian Kolmer/Courtesy of Sommer Frische Kunst
All the other big art fairs have gotten so commercial, she said.
This feels intimate and authentic.
Back in town, I popped in to galleries showcasing up-and-coming artists.
A printed image emerged, which was rolled up into a Bic Cristal pen and made into a necklace.
If done right, the community could build a mountain city ready for the future, she said.
