ZIEL
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In 1973, Janet Johnson, an American mountaineer, traveled to Argentina to ascent the Aconcagua mountain. It is situated in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province. It is the highest mountain in the Americas and outside of Asia.
Elevation: 6,961 meters.
That same year, in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, FR, a seaside commune located on the French Riviera, Louis Cane started his “toiles découpées” series. Colorful symmetrical shapes of raw canvas resembling podiums.
Janet Johnson was born on November 30th, 1936.
Earlier that year, the IV Olympic Winter Games were held in Garmisch-Partenkirschen, an Alpine town in Southern Bavaria, Germany. It was the first time the Olympic flame flickered at the Winter Games.
A dark moment in the history of skiing as the events were a propaganda vitrine for the Nationalsozialistische Diktatur.
The town lies near the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak, with a 2,962 meters summit accessed by a cogwheel train.
In 2024, Long Beach’s railway is still operating under a light train format: moving working class commuters rather than 1900’s newcomers.
White Gold Turns To Blood
The Aconcagua expedition was comprised of eight Americans. Janet Johnson never made it back.
She was carrying an ice axe and a camera.
Her death is still a mystery to this day.
Hypoxia or Homicide.
At the end of WWII, numerous nazis fled to Argentina.
The alpine town of Bariloche became a destination because of political sympathy for their government and for its visual resemblance to Bavaria.
In the 1930s, the centre of the city was redesigned to have the appearance of a traditional European central alpine town (it was called "Little Switzerland.”).
The Final Frontier
The Long Beach train was one of the first railroad in the West, breaking the Wild West era and supporting commercial peace and capitalism.
Bariloche is located within the Nahuel Huapi National Park, next to the Andes. Commerce continued to depend on Chile until the arrival of the railroad in 1934, which connected the city with Argentine markets.
Louis Cane is one of the most prolific painters of Supports/Surfaces and is still active to this day.
Nowadays, the cogwheel train at the Zugspitze is still operating bringing tourists to its peak. Surfaces and colors have changed: the grey rocks took over the mountains former white dress. The glacier is scheduled to disappear by 2030.
Gone with History still in the making.
Destination Addiction
Which step of the podium will you be on when you’re gone?
Kalle Jalkanen (10 May 1907 in Suonenjoki – 5 September 1941 in Kirjasalo). During the 1936 Olympics, he skied the last leg of a gold medal winning Finnish relay team. During his short life, Jalkanen worked as a farmer, woodcutter, ski wax manufacturer, ran a coffee shop, and from 1937 on, worked as an accountant. Corporal Kalle Jalkanen was killed when he stepped on a mine while on an intelligence gathering mission in Lempaala, Ingeria (now Lembolovo in Leningrad Oblast, Russia).
*Ziele=Goals