A silent monument to what remains – and what is lost
Ötztal artist Alexander Maria Lohmann is a rock star of the art world – avant-garde, provocative, and revolutionary. This also applies to his current art project. With “Human Race,” he sets new standards in terms of dimension, urgency, and artistic ambition.
“How will the race end for us?” is the question posed by this long-term project, which has been encouraging visitors to “take a look” in the spectacular glacier landscape of the Rettenbachferner in Sölden since summer 2025. Alexander Maria Lohmann wants to make the race against time visible. To this end, he has sunk seven monumental works, up to 4.5 meters high and weighing up to 300 kilograms, into the permafrost in front of a glacial lake. The monuments are flanked by 13 human silhouettes in which viewers can see themselves reflected and recognize themselves as part of the problem—but perhaps also as part of the solution.
Art in a race against time
For one year, the installations are exposed to the harsh climate of the glacier, ice, wind, and UV radiation. How the works, which deal with burning issues such as the climate crisis, species extinction, and artificial intelligence, change over the course of the project is captured in time-lapse photography. After the first phase in the Ötztal Alps, further exhibitions are planned in other parts of the world. For Lohmann, “Human Race” is much more than an artistic act—it is a memorial to the future of humanity against the backdrop of a global crisis.
The exhibition in Sölden can be visited until September 2026. So, time is running out!
