The practical joker Petermandl has his “A-Bua” prize

First of all, it must be explained what the dialect expression “A-Bua!” says. It is the Mostviertel counterpart to the American “Wow!” This appreciative exclamation has given the city of Waidhofen’s cultural prize its name for years. This year, as the official gazette reports, Herbert Petermandl will receive the prize.

Perhaps it is the truth of the saying “Humor is when you laugh anyway” when Mayor Werner Krammer (VP) presents Petermandl with the certificate and trophy. Since he was able to hold a palette and brush, Petermandl has been painting a group picture after local council elections and recoloring a group of dwarves with pointed hats according to their respective political colors. A sheep screwed together from scrap and wire, a satirical sculpture by Petermandl on Waidhofen’s cultural politics, fetched 7,500 euros at a charity auction last year. The trained art restorer demonstrated what he can do with his craftsmanship last year with a giant painting of a Krauthappel, which was spread across the entire castle courtyard. The city justified the award, among other things, by saying that Petermandl has enriched the city’s cultural landscape for more than 40 years with “his artistic work and as an ironic observer of city life.”