18 May 2020

Annotation on 18 October 2020: The exhibition is extended to 22 November 2020.

Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum explores in new exhibition the regional heritage of traditional clothing from various perspectives such as the definition of gender

Since 15 May, the special exhibition 'Tracht. Eine Neuerkundung' (Traditional Dress. A Reassessment) is open for the public. The show at the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum (Museum of Tyrolean Regional Heritage) in Innsbruck (capital city of the Austrian Federal State Tyrol) explores the traditional alpine clothing 'Tracht' from the 19th century up to nowadays with strong focus on a former director of the museum, Gertrud Pesendorfer who defined especially during the Nazi-regime clothing culture. Her influence, which didn't end 1945 and lasted far longer up to our century through her book 'Lebendige Tracht in Tirol', was theme of a research (2014-2019) of the Tiroler Landesmuseen in collaboration with the University of Innsbruck. Gertrud Pesendorfer even created tracht for matching the ideal image of women during the NS time. At the video below, researcher and exhibition curator Dr. Reinhard Bodner presents among other artefacts one of Pesendorfer's dirndls ('dirndl' is a traditional dress for women).

The exhibition throws also light on gender-related topics and displays examples from nowadays for re-definitions of outdated tracht-wearer stereotypes. The Bavarian homosexual 'Schuhplattler' group 'Schwuhplattler' for example define themselves as 'traditional, connected to home, gay'. Schwuhplattler is a word creation of the name of the male dance 'Schuhplattler' and the German word for gay 'schwul'. They prove with their traditional Schuhplattler dance performances in alpine tracht that there is no contradiction between homosexuality and being connected to home.

Images: Insights into the special exhibition "Tracht. Eine Neuerkundung" (Traditional Dress. A Reassessment) at the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum (Museum of Tyrolean Regional Heritage) in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria; on view from 15 May until 1 November 2020.
The picture above shows an undressed mannequin from the museum depot from ca. 1928. The word 'Tracht' is derived from 'tragen' which means 'wear'. The undressed doll visualizes the main plot of the exhibition which aims to emancipate the regional clothing tradition from political ideology. The puppet wears a non-medical face mask how it's obligatory for visitors of museums during the coronavirus pandemic. The mannequin is placed in front of a wall with articles from news publications concerning the traditional dress in fashion, politics, and as research object.
The image right shows hats from ca. 1850-1930 of the museum's trachten-depot which was directed once by Gertrud Pesendorfer. Photos: © Wolfgang Lackner, innfoto.at.

Note: At quiz-maker.com/QHI7X6X, the exhibition makers publish a quiz about tracht.