Hymn
Maximilian Erbacher, 2008
Video installation · 3:65 minutes (looped projection)
The Met Hotel Art Collection, Thessaloniki
Description:
In Hymn, Maximilian Erbacher crafts an evocative video installation that bridges folkloric tradition and global modernity. Set against the symbolic backdrop of an airfield—an emblem of contemporary mobility—Erbacher positions himself as a conductor who appears to silently lead the haunting strains of the “Beichle Jutz,” a traditional Swiss yodel performed by hundreds at the annual Aarau Yodeling Festival. The work teases out the tension between communal ritual and mediated spectacle in our hyperconnected world
Themes & Interpretation
Media‑filtered tradition: Through silent conducting, Erbacher draws attention to the ways mass media transforms and frames folk culture, rendering ancient rites both visible and strangely alien.
Home and displacement: By staging this ritual at an airfield—an archetype of transit—the piece reflects the artist’s recurring inquiry into how people reconstruct a sense of home within the circulating flows of global society
Cultural code and authenticity: The work comments on our yearning for authentic communal experience—how it is shaped, even manufactured, by the spectacle and structure of modern media, transforming collective identity into visual and sonic symbols