Stätte der Begegnung, Forecourt, Hermagoras Verein und Verlag / Mohorjeva, Klagenfurt, 1995
GÜNTHER DOMENIG
© Photo: Gerhard Maurer, 2022
In 1995 Günther Domenig designed this sculpture to mark the 75th anniversary of the Carinthian referendum in 1920, which was held to resolve the territorial affiliation issue of the majority Slovene-speaking areas of Lower Carinthia after the end of the First World War. (Under the supervision of the League of Nations, the population decided against Yugoslavia and in favor of remaining with Austria.) Günther Domenig placed asculpture weighing eleven tons, made of Corten steel, in front of the building of the Hermagoras/Mohorjeva association and publishing house, founded in 1851, which was and still is central to the journalistic and educational activities of the Carinthian Slovenes. Sloping angular surfaces grow from the earth and bear the engraved inscription “Jaz sem tu – ich bin hier” – I am here. Expressed here is the common history shared by the two ethnic groups, but even more the Carinthian Slovenes’ call for self-determination and equal rights.