Bregenzerwald – Bregenz Forest. I suppose not many people outside German-speaking countries know where that is. Bregenz is the capital of Austrias’s most western region called Vorarlberg which borders on Switzerland. What do the connoisseurs usually associate with this little federal country: A local language sounding more Swiss than any other Austrian idiom, alpine cheese, skiing and hiking, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg (reputedly the most renowned Schubert Festival worldwide) and outstanding modern architecture (wood as construction material).

What many fanciers don’t know is that the Bregenzerwald (which is more a vast alpine pasture than a forest) prides itself with a cultural institution that, at least until some years ago, was considered “the smallest most important venue in Austria, if not in Europe.

“A train station stands for arrival, stopover and encounter,” is written on the arts center’s homepage. “Like in a hotel where people from all over the world meet, various styles and traditions get together in Hotel Palindrone’s music”, goes a line in a Palotian press release. Looks like the right place for the right band!

In 1999 the local culture club took over the station of the Wälderbähnli (hard to translate, maybe Tiny Forest Railway is the best version). Since then the Bahnhof Andelsbuch has been the venue for music, literature and visual arts – offering a really ambitious and sophisticated program. Until some years ago, as mentioned above, on little space for audience and musicians. It was like listening and performing on a post stamp.

This time we played on a real stage and the seating capacity was triplicated. A typically Vorarlbergian timber construction – simple and beautiful. In order to save space the backstage room was placed in a freight wagon in front of the station. We enjoyed Margret’s legendary soups and delicious wines, and had a great time on stage. And we should not forget to mention the hospitality Barbara Fink’s guesthouse. Bregenzerwald was again worth visiting.

All the more as, the next day, we had plenty of time to stroll through Andelsbuch, a village that verifies Vorarlberg’s reputation as a hotspot of architecture. Side by side traditional and modern buildings, wood combined with glass, steel and concrete. A beautiful coexistence of old and new, perfectly balancing form and function. All buildings surrounded by vast pastures (cows grazing everywhere, don’t forget to buy cheese!), and the high plateau itself surrounded by impressive mountains (don’t forget to go hiking or skiing!).

Apart from Bahnhof Andelsbuch, don’t miss Werkraum Bregenzerwald (Work Room, established in 2012). A design center and exhibition hall presenting the products of eighty handicrafts enterprises. A counter-world opposing industrial mass-production, not only a work room, but also a poetic magic world of every-day items and furniture of timeless beauty.

This was perfectly depicted in the exhibition No Name Design (which regrettably ended on May 2). Let me quote the text at the entrance: “This is a commitment to unimposing things which accompany us in every-day life. Usually they are eclipsed by great names, very rarely they are in the limelight. … 1000 unattributed objects of refined artistic quality based on a perfect balance of function, material and construction.”

Bregenzerwald ho!