The artwork originated in 2025 as a design for the competition for the official Hahnenkamm poster for 2026. Kaspar Laurenz wanted to portray the Streif not only as a world-famous racecourse, but also as a scenic and cultural symbol of Kitzbühel.

The design emerged during a period marked by artistic self-doubt. Participating in the regional competition was linked to the hope of recognition and support from his own community. The artwork was developed by hand over a period of more than 100 hours, refined in numerous individual steps.

The deliberate slowness of this process was an essential element of the work. The design was created at a time when generative artificial intelligence could generate complex visual worlds in mere moments. Kaspar Laurenz countered this with a meticulously crafted and time-intensive approach. Every line, every surface, and every detail of the composition was consciously placed. While the time invested is not immediately apparent in the finished image, it is inscribed within the work as an invisible component.

Formally, the work combines the topography of the Streif downhill course with influences from Japanese woodblock prints, particularly Katsushika Hokusai's series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji." Like Mount Fuji in Hokusai's work, the Streif appears here as a recurring, almost emblematic landscape motif.

Above the racecourse drift the cloud formations typical of the region, known as the "Water Carriers." According to local folklore, their direction of movement heralds either rain or dry weather. The moon, perched above the Streif, lends the landscape an additional sense of stillness and timelessness.

After the design was rejected in the initial selection process, Kaspar Laurenz decided to develop the motif as an independent edition of 100 prints. For the first edition, handmade Japanese washi paper was used, its visible fibers and slight irregularities giving each print its own unique character.

Thus, a rejected competition entry became an independent work about perseverance, disappointment, and continued development. This gave the motif an additional connection to racing: in dealing with setbacks, in the perseverance to continue working, and in the willingness to start again after a defeat. This attitude is one of the fundamental experiences of sport and simultaneously became an essential part of the work's genesis.