Deer Buttons [Hirschknöpfe] is an immersive Cine-VR work framed as a time-travel apparatus. Set in the Austrian Salzkammergut, it follows a fictional traveller from a distant future moving through fragmented traces of the present. Guided by the spectral voices of former salt-mine workers, the work unfolds as a spatial and sonic archive where memories of labour, extraction, and ecological transformation linger within the landscape.
The title refers to the traveller’s encounter with the region’s last remaining button maker, where she acquires a button carved from deer antler—a fragile relic of a disappearing more-than-human world. Through layered sound and embodied presence, Deer Buttons reflects on deep time, industrial heritage, and the traces humans leave behind, revealing memory as an unresolved constellation within a living audiovisual landscape.
Deer Buttons, a Cine-VR opera developed for the European Capital of Culture Salzkammergut 2024, emerged from the larger project Regional Express, which combines two parallel journeys: an audio experience aboard a regional train traversing the Salzkammergut and the immersive Cine-VR work Deer Buttons. Together, these interconnected experiences extend the journey into a speculative and poetic encounter with the region’s histories, industrial heritage, and landscapes.
Deer Buttons [Hirschknöpfe]:
Cine-VR Opera, 2025, 11 min.
Concept, Direction and Artistic Research
: Ella Raidel
Cinematography and Cine-VR Production
: Benjamin Seide
Music and Sound Composition:
Sander Saarmets | V4R1
Spatial Audio: Matthias Kassmannhuber | Hear VR
Cast: Yakira Cang and Knopferl Maier
Choir: Gemischter Chor Altmünster
Producer: Marlene Rutzendorfer | Wonderland
Regional Express a project for the European Capital of Culture Salzkammergut 2024
Deer Buttons is featured in FIVARS Spotlight Stories 2026 LINK
Set Photos Credit: Pia Fronia
