ART at PACHERS

Where Art Finds Hospitality » Hotels as Cultural Spaces

Nestled among the vineyards of the Eisack Valley, Hotel Pachers connects local heritage with regional and international perspectives. Now run by the Huber family in its third generation, the boutique hotel sees itself as a place where architecture, craftsmanship, and the South Tyrolean way of life engage in a harmonious dialogue. Its design is characterised by a sensitive approach to the site’s cultural heritage, creating an atmosphere that is both calm and welcoming.
Inviting artists into the hotel is a project especially close to Johanna Huber’s heart. The exhibitions are curated by Bettina Pelz and remain on view for periods of two to three years. Rather than temporary interventions, the works become artistic positions that evolve through their dialogue with the hotel’s architecture, its mountain setting above Brixen, and its guests. In this way, Pachers has developed into a continuously growing art space where contemporary artistic practices remain visible over extended periods, generating new relationships between time, space, and the life of the hotel.

Isabelle Kirsch  » Organismus VIII

The site-specific light installation Organismus VIII occupies the architectural threshold between the historic building and its contemporary extension. Constructed from semi-transparent corrugated tubing and integrated LED light lines, Isabelle Kirsch creates a dynamic network of light and colour that subtly activates the space.
With Organismus VIII, Isabelle Kirsch continues her exploration of organic structures, transformation, and spatial perception. Technological precision merges with a poetic light aesthetic that responds to the presence and movement of guests.
“Light and perception are directly connected. What interests me is transforming spatial experiences and atmospheres of light into new sensory perceptions. In ‘Organismus VIII’, for example, I translate photographs through a process of technical reduction, removing them from their original context and creating a space of experience through flowing colours.” Isabelle Kirsch
The light sequences are based on photographic studies of local lighting conditions, translating their character into continuously shifting compositions of colour and illumination.The result is an installation that constantly alters the atmosphere of the space, creating a layered experiential environment that remains in perpetual transformation.

Katharina Berndt »  Traubenreich

The large-scale work Traubenreich, installed across the expansive window above the entrance area, continually changes its appearance through natural daylight, artificial interior lighting, shifting viewpoints, and the differing perspectives from inside and outside the building.
“As a light artist, I distinguish between artificial light, which I use consciously as a dramaturgical medium, and the unpredictability of naturally occurring light. It is about inviting chance into the process. Viewing direction, perspective, the interaction between the openings within the image and the background, the time of day, and the weather all become components that alter perception. Light transforms a static work into an ever-changing, magnetically alive place.” Katharina Berndt
Katharina Berndt combines drawing, illustration, and narrative imagery in a multilayered composition of botanical forms, animal motifs, and associative elements. The work takes as its starting point Paul Gerhardt’s (1653) hymn Geh aus, mein Herz, translating its relationship to nature into a contemporary visual language. Inspired by observations of nature, encounters, and everyday impressions, Traubenreich unfolds as an open visual landscape that connects architecture and surroundings while continuously revealing new dimensions through changing light conditions.

Rosmarie Weinlich » ANIMA

The site-specific installation ANIMA, located within the hotel’s stairwell, consists of illuminated glass vessels in which crystals grow and gradually develop as autonomous systems over time.
Rosmarie Weinlich works at the intersection of art and science. Drawing on questions from biology, medicine, and natural philosophy, she investigates processes of transformation, growth, and impermanence.
“Light waits. I treat light as a phenomenon that cannot be possessed, only observed. It does not illuminate in order to assert itself; it is condition, breath, the quietest of all forces. In my installations, the light bulb becomes a self-contained cosmos, and the light within it is not decoration but a prerequisite for life: that which enables growth, accompanies crystallisation, and gently illuminates transience without explaining it. My artistic practice requires patience — the willingness to pause, to look slowly, to endure the passing of time. In ANIMA, the crystal grows. The light watches. The soul is present.” Rosmarie Weinlich
The title refers to the Latin word for life force and draws upon ideas from analytical psychology. The installation by Rosmarie Weinlich thus connects material processes with questions of perception, time, and the hidden dynamics of living systems.

Anna Rosa Rupp » Apfel

Originally created as an ink drawing on paper, Apfel now appears as a digital light composition on the screens in the hotel rooms. Through its translation into a digital medium, the drawing is released from its material support and acquires a new form of presence. Its delicate ink lines are transformed into light and experienced as an immaterial image. While the original gestural quality remains intact, its mode of appearance is fundamentally altered.
In South Tyrol, the apple is far more than an agricultural product. It shapes the landscape and its history, reflects centuries of cultivation, and symbolises the close relationship between nature, labour, and the regional economy.
“For me, light is the prerequisite for all colour. I am fascinated by the fact that colours emerge only through the interaction of light and surface, since we perceive only the portion of light that is reflected back to us. At the same time, light shapes the atmosphere of skies, places, seasons, and landscapes, profoundly influencing my artistic perception.” Anna Rosa Rupp
The work by Anna Rosa Rupp transforms from an analogue image bound to paper and pigment into a fleeting constellation of light that inhabits the protected space of the hotel room, temporarily turning it into a site of artistic encounter. Positioned between materiality and immateriality, the work reflects on the transformation of the drawn image in the digital age.

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Photos and credits:

Isabelle Kirsch / Organismus VIII / 2026 / Kunststoff mit LED | Photo: Jennifer Braun
Katharina Berndt / Traubenreich / 2024 / großformatige Zeichnung als Fensterbild | Photo: Jennifer Braun
Rosmarie Weinlich / Anima / seit 2012 / Glaskolben, anorganische Kristalle, LED | Photo: Jennifer Braun
Anna Rosa Rupp / Apfel / 2024 / Illustration | Photo: Jennifer Braun