A Place in Transformation: From Forgotten Fairways to a Festival for a Better Tomorrow.

InnsbruckGabonsaFestival

29 Apr

Written By Leon Stofft

@Leon Stofft

It’s this clash of nature, man-made landscape, and a touch of faded golfing romance that makes this place so fascinating.

I stroll slowly across the 4.5-hectare abandoned golf course. A green sea of scattered grass and moss patches stretches out before me, and not far off, an old rowing boat painted green as well, looking rather marooned. There's no sign of the crew who once left it behind. A light breeze drifts over the open field — pleasant under the warm sun, which shines down on me today from a cloudless, deep blue sky. On the slope of the driving range, the wind catches the still-hanging golf nets, making them dance in the light like large, sluggish sails. I pick up a golf ball I find lying on the fairway, which is slowly being overtaken by wild growth. In the distance, I spot a rusty ticket booth, dented by countless golf balls. It stands there like a loyal tin soldier, unaware that its watch has long since ended. The booth has long since served its purpose and has recently been repurposed by golfers as a target. The grounds follow a clear symmetry. A path leads from the main entrance to the center of the site, lined by gentle hills. It ends at a conical plaza, lying quietly in the landscape, flanked by two dense hedges. Hidden behind one of the hedges on the left side lies a small putting green, nestled away. As if someone had been here only yesterday, everything bears the traces of a sudden stillness: flags still stand in their holes, though slightly askew, as if wind and time had nudged them out of place. I follow the edge of a small wooded area, pass two simple tool sheds, and eventually reach the heart of the place: the driving range at the slope. It looks gutted. The wooden floors have been folded up, fittings and furniture dismantled. What remains is the bare skeleton of the nearly 60-meter-long concrete block, supported by naked columns. I climb a staircase at the left wing of the structure up onto the roof. From up here, I can overlook the vast field and even see down into the valley. I’m on the eastern outskirts of Innsbruck, nestled between an industrial zone, the highway, and the banks of the Inn River. The driving range lies directly next to a popular gravel lake, not far from a green waste recycling facility and a few allotment gardens.

@Gabonsa

Left: @Leon Stofft, Right: @Sebastian Madlener

From Landfill to Sports Facility, from Sports Facility to Cultural Space

Since its creation on the site of a former landfill, this place has established itself as a popular training ground for golf enthusiasts. With 32 tee-off spots — half of them covered — along with dedicated pitching, chipping, and putting greens, the facility offered ideal conditions for both beginners and seasoned players. But the story of this place is changing. For the time being, parts of the golf facility will remain. The City of Innsbruck is planning to gradually transform the area for increased cultural and public use. A process of repairing, repurposing, and opening up to new communities lies ahead. In July 2025, the GABONSA Festival will take place here for the first time. For three days, from July 4 to 6, the former golf course will be transformed — through spatial and light installations, three stages, multiple zones, and an international music lineup featuring artists such as Ryan Elliott, Sally C, LUXE, BLANKA, .VRIL, and E.lina — into a venue for music, art, and culture. The GABONSA Festival is a joint project by Bonanza and Gans Anders.
Long before their merger, both had already independently shaped and enriched Innsbruck’s cultural landscape. Bonanza became known for events such as Bonanza OpenAir, Sonnendeck, and many other formats — always accompanied by slogans like "Kein Utopie ist auch keine Lösung - No utopia is no solution." The Gans Anders Festival was created with the goal of revitalizing the cultural scene, which had been weakened by the effects of Covid, through a diverse range of events.

@Gabonsa

@Sebastian Madlener

Imagine it's the future, and everything is good.
An abandoned golf driving range and future sounds — how do these fit together?

We asked ourselves what drives us, what we stand for, and what we want to bring into this world. The answer was clear: we aim to give people optimism, offer them joy, a moment where they can confidently envision a bright future, or even experience it firsthand and actively create it. Festivals may always be brief utopias, but they are a kind of utopia you can take with you, carry into your everyday life, and share with others. We want to spread optimism and joy for life.
Planning a living utopia at a place that is still in a state of suspension, like the abandoned golf course, which is strongly defined by the present moment and also deals with the search for a better future, is a beautiful thought. A festival is a playground that, for a brief moment, transports us out of our everyday lives into a new world. Inventing these places feels like discovering a new world. Immediately, my mind begins to imagine the scenography. Imagination is our mind’s ability to create ideas, images, or scenarios that don’t yet exist or are not yet realized. It allows us to picture a place we’ve never been, invent a story, a character, or a new world, creatively solve a problem, daydream, fantasize, or visualize something in our mind's eye. For example, when we see an abandoned building and imagine what it could transform into — a gallery, a home, or even a playground — that is imagination in action. A festival begins as an idea in our minds — a thought that slowly takes shape, grows, and over time becomes anchored in reality, until it turns into a lived dream for many. How will our utopia unfold on the old driving range? What form will the transformation take? And will the very essence of the place change along with it?