#discursive: Because it's always been that way!

As the ContrApunkt cultural collective, we invite you to p.m.k on 05.11.2025 to take a critical look at the terms "tradition" and "custom". In Tyrol, these concepts are condensed in a variety of practices, from carnival figures such as the Absamer Matschgerer, Axamer Wampeler or Thaurer Muller to the big carnivals in Imst, Nassereith and Telfs and the Krampus and Tuifl clubs of the winter months. What at first glance appear to be familiar rituals, on closer inspection reveal themselves to be permeated by social dynamics: Questions of belonging and exclusion, gender systems, identity concepts and tourist staging are negotiated within them.

The formula "because it has always been like this" often serves as a justification for safeguarding existing structures of power and order. "Tradition" and "custom" thus appear not as neutral descriptions, but as figures of argumentation that claim authenticity, draw boundaries and make change more difficult. At the same time, traditions and customs are historically mobile; they are renegotiated, adapted, transformed or even dropped. The planned event will therefore focus on practices such as carnival and Krampus activities, not rashly inscribing them in a conservative logic, but rather making their openness, flexibility and ambivalences visible while also taking a critical look at them.
Together with Julia Jenewein (director and cultural worker), Konrad Kuhn (European Ethnology, University of Innsbruck) and musician Staad, we want to examine how customs create affiliations, stabilize identities, but also open up scope for openness and creative redesign.