Burgenland Modern
100 Years, 100 Buildings

by Johann Gallis, Albert Kirchengast
Published by: Land Burgenland, 2025
ISBN (Hardcover): 978-3-0356-2736-7

Over time, renowned architects, influential artists and internationally recognized creatives have repeatedly engaged with Peter Noever's land-art project, "Die Grube / The Pit". Often their responses took the form of spontaneous statements, sparked by a first encounter or visit. However, many profound texts have also been published, aiming primarily to decipher the spirit of Noever's "work in progress." Naturally, the site itself — situated at the interface between two world cultures, at a geopolitical intersection, at the edge of the Eurasian Steppe — poses a unique challenge.

Here is a brief, non-exhaustive list of contributors to date:

• Michael Sorkin
• Carlo Scarpa
• Bernard Rudofsky
• Kyong Park
• Günther Feuerstein
• Friedrich Achleitner
• Kristin Feireiss
• Erhard Stackl
• Herbert Lachmayer
• and most recently, Albert Kirchengast: "....Die Grube / The Pit ist ein Zeichen, das im Rausch der Zeichen nicht vergeht. / ....Die Grube / The Pit is a sign that never fades in the frenzy of signs." (Burgenland Modern, 2025)

English Translation

The Pit
Architect: Peter Noever
Builder: Peter Noever
Location: Breitenbrunn
Built: from 1971
Condition: Preserved

The Pit is not just another installation of the ritual zeitgeist of Vienna's art world in the 1960s and 1970s. Located near the border, it might seem archaic, set amidst the gusty, rural scenery — reminiscent of an ancient stage. The Pit is and remains a vibrant manifesto. Other experimental architectures are preserved in films and books, while this endeavor remains alive, representing a piece of Austrian art and cultural history.

"Freedom means not to do what pleases everyone," is a quote that not only captures Peter Noever's sentiment at the time but also still resonates. His artistic stance has always been tied to a radical examination of structures and values. Artists and collaborators — under Noever's leadership — transformed a basement into a castle of independence. Noever, a pioneering figure in the modern, post-World War II architecture scene, designed The Pit as a space for awareness. It offers room for personal creative potential — in shifting alliances, over decades of development.

As a builder and architect, he is the catalytic force behind this cultural project. The Pit represents a milestone in sustainable impact, shifting between sculpture, land art, and architecture. On the edge of the Leitha Mountains, at the outflows of a young, washed-out limestone trench, it stands as a sign of resistance, located alongside settlements and banalities — against urban sprawl, consumerist living, and the exhaustion of traditions. The cultural landscape envelops The Pit as if it had always belonged there. A conscious intention, whose functional purpose must first be clarified, is seen as a continuation of archaic interventions in the topography of the earth — not cultic but communal.

The inherent strength of this project lies in its resistance to the ravages of time: It is a sign of the intoxication of drawing marks into the landscape. A cellar, dug 8 meters deep into the cool earth, is the origin and foundation, linking back to the building traditions of the land. From the vaulted structure, a spatial experience of descending, a process of immersing into the earth, develops. The cellar opens into an impressive chamber 8 meters underground. A staircase leads 3.5 meters deeper into the core of the structure, opening into a vault designed with split limestone.

Ascending from the steps, one arrives on a viewing platform facing the open horizon, a geometrically designed line. The towers of The Pit stretch gently upwards. The associative power of art often lies in its ambiguity — is this a trench, a pit, a bunker, or a grave? What are its underlying triggers and consciousness? Does it stem from still relevant societal structures or collective social performances of the site, reminiscent of Jet-Set-like ceremonies, computer images by Peter Noever, celebrations, food and drink, or ways of coping with competition?

The Pit is a spatial experience of contemplation, of descending and emerging, air, earth, and limestone — a question mark behind humanity’s clinical domination over nature. It presents itself as elemental — particularly in retrospect, as "grain of the triangle," or as a layout that appears as if a tectonic force were at work. When viewed from above, the light-colored arches of the chambers resemble cuts made by a sculptor into the earth, anchoring the horizon and the geometric line. The towers of The Pit rise lightly upwards.

Nature grows over it as if taking no notice. The Pit’s form always triggers reflections about the ambiguity of artistic intention and the balance between construction and natural dissolution. Peter Noever’s contribution remains a dynamic manifesto of individuality.

Albert Kirchengast, Burgenland Modern, 2025