In the early 1980s, a subsidiary of Voestalpine mined ore in Marampa, Sierra Leone. About 40 Austrian employees and their families, including a number from Eisenerz, lived in Marampa from 1980 to 1985 in a former British colonial mining infrastructure. The project in Marampa was intended for the long term, but it failed after just a few years. Today, the Marampa Pub in Eisenerz, opened by former employee Ivo Gölz upon his return – in the newly built bus station at that time – commemorates this historical connection.
For several years, Juma Hauser, who herself lived in Marampa as a child for a year, has sought traces of this history and compiled them in an artistic publication. Thus, 30 years after the homecoming, the publication "The Marampa Project – When there were schnitzels in the colonial clubhouse, a civil servant was talking on the phone under a tree in Africa, two ore trains were approaching each other, and the Trafokoarl swallowed a frog in the swimming pool" was created. In her book, Hauser links interviews, quotes, anecdotes, and archival material to tell a somewhat different industrial story – about individual experiences in a larger historical context.
As a reminiscence of this African mining chapter, an artistic wall design was created at the Eisenerz bus station, directly next to the Marampa Pub and on the opposite side of the street. Enlarged images from photo albums were used in this installation to open the existing (waiting) spaces in terms of their historical connection to Marampa, both temporally and spatially. During the renovation of the bus stop, one of the two image panels – which shows a Black football player in an Eisenerz jersey – was transferred. A perfect placement location was found for it at the Eisenerz football stadium.
At the ROSTFEST 2015, Juma Hauser publicly presented the wall installation and its publication for the first time in Eisenerz with an exhibition and a slide presentation.
Publication online here: Mandelbaum Verlag.
Location:
Entrance area of the football stadium, Hans-von-der-Sann-Straße 22-24, 8790 Eisenerz
47°32'39.1"N 14°53'13.9"E
