ZÜRICH, Contemporary Art

MUSEUMS - STIFTUNGEN - GALERIEN / ZÜRICH

AUSSTELLUNGEN - EXPOSITIONS - EXHIBITIONS

migros museum für gegenwartskunst / Zürich Exhibition : June 1, 2008 until August 17, 2008

Sammlung / Collection Limmatstrasse 270 - 8005 Zürich Tel +41 44 277 20 50 / Fax +41 44 277 62 86 Opening times: view the Internet site of the Museum Internet

The exhibition links recent collection acquisitions to older works of the migros museum für gegenwartskunst collection. This year it is celebrating its 30th year jubilee with, amongst others, works by Monica Bonvicini, Christoph Büchel, Maurizio Cattelan, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Dan Flavin, Gilbert & George, Douglas Gordon, Mark Leckey, Bruce Nauman, Cady Noland, Katharina Sieverding, Stephen Willats and Cathy Wilkes. The actual concern of the collection concept is to make contact with contemporary art production and direct it at a broad-minded public in a lively and vital environment. Purchases for the collection have arisen, for the most part, from works produced for exhibitions, or at the very least in working together with the artists involved. Thus, over a period of decades, various large-scale installation works have been acquired. In a quite unique way it makes it possible for the migros museum für gegenwartskunst, not just to collect suitable works from the art market, but to obtain installations that otherwise would have had little chance of being permanently maintained. The exhibition architecture is an extension of the display form Markus Schinwald implemented in his own exhibition. Schinwald, orients his spatial design around that of Friedrich Kiesler’s (1890–1965) spatial designs, in this way achieving not a mere arrangement of the works, but follows the concept through toward a holistic Correalism. This places the individual requirements of the people and the works in the foreground, and not the standardised forms. The exhibition display is determined by a «Trager and Leger System», which integrates the spectator into a spatial and temporal framework. Herein the spectator is made conscious once more of his/her role as «active see-er» («aktiver Sehender») enabling him/her to follow and develop his/her own analogies and narrative strands.
The exhibition is curated by Heike Munder. At the end of May a comprehensive exhibition catalogue will be published by JRP|Ringier, featuring text contributions by Nicolas Bourriaud, Dan Fox, Raphael Gygax, Tom Holert, Heike Munder, Philip Ursprung, Astrid Wege, Judith Welter, Jan Verwoert and Tirdad Zolghadr. This is to provide, for the first time, a complete inventory of the core form and substance of the collection.

migros museum für gegenwartskunst / Zürich Exhibition : February 16, 2008 until May 18, 2008

Markus Schinwald Limmatstrasse 270 - 8005 Zürich Tel +41 44 277 20 50 / Fax +41 44 277 62 86 Opening times: view the Internet site of the Museum Internet

The psychological debate between space and body, the uncanny and the disquieting, the deficits and the irrational depths of the individual and collective being – all are themes at play in the works of Markus Schinwald (born 1973, Salzburg). The most varied media are fused with apparent lightness in his work – from nightmarish films and puppet-like sculptures to re-worked history painting, and prosthetic design and clothes creations, which are subtly choreographed with one another. In his largest solo museum exhibition to date, Schinwald has created an architectonic overall production, which in the form of its display is oriented to the spatial designs of Austro-American stage designer and artist, Friedrich Kiesler (1890-1965). The human body, in its inadequacy and uncanniness, serves Schinwald as both a starting and an observation point. He does not exhibit a firm, stable body whose function as controlled exterior is out of control, but instead a diaphanous, osmotic body stage, a projection surface for psychologically charged inner worlds, which constantly seek their path to the outside and manifest themselves there. Most recently works by Markus Schinwald were on view at The World is a Stage at the Tate Modern, London (2007), True Romance at the Kunsthalle Vienna (2007), and at the 3rd Berlin Biennale (2006).

The exhibition will be curated by Heike Munder.

Kunsthaus Zürich / Zürich Exhibition : 14 March – 8 June 2008
Shifting Identities – (Swiss) art now. Intro Heimplatz 1 - 8032 Zurich Öffnungszeiten: befragen die Internet-Adresse des Museums Internet

The Kunsthaus Zürich features contemporary Swiss and international art that concerns itself with issues of identity. The two-part show will take place in the Kunsthaus, and, from the 6th of June, also at the Airport and the city centre of Zurich. The website www.shifting-identities.ch is also part of the interactive concept.

Kunsthaus Zürich / Zürich Exhibition : June 6 – August 31, 2008
Shifting Identities - Swiss Art today Heimplatz 1 - 8032 Zurich Öffnungszeiten: befragen die Internet-Adresse des Museums Internet

For some years now contemporary Swiss art has featured importantly on the international stage. Accordingly, Kunsthaus Zürich feels that the moment has come to turn the spotlight onto this flourishing art scene in a wide-ranging exhibition that is less about ‘nationality’ than about ‘identity’ – not only within Switzerland but in the context of our globalised society as a whole, where different individuals and cultures seem to become ever more similar, even as inequalities and exclusion bite ever deeper. The absence or dissolution of identity on one hand and new constructs of identity on the other are reflected in the work of many artists today – ranging from video works in which the artist explores his or her own identity and role in society to installations with ‘Doppelgänger’ figures in the shape of doll-like sculptures. In keeping with the art world today, international positions that are relevant to this theme are also included in the exhibition – even if this increasingly and bewilderingly blurs various boundaries.

Kunsthaus Zürich / Zürich Exhibition : 20 June–3 August 2008
The Marc Rich Collection Heimplatz 1 - 8032 Zurich Öffnungszeiten: befragen die Internet-Adresse des Museums Internet

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of photography 1989, the Kunsthaus was fortunate enough to receive one of the most generous gifts in its history: an outstanding selection of 74 photographs – predominantly ‘vintage prints’ – tracing the course of art-photography since the mid-19th century. The Marc Rich Collection spans an arc from the early pioneers of photography (Henry Fox Talbot, Charles Marville) via the Pictorialism of the ‘Photo Secession’ (Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen), ‘straight photography’ (Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams), Surrealism, Constructivism and Bauhaus (Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer) and the poetic, documentary Realism of the mid-20th century (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank). The presentation of this very fine collection also constitutes a welcome opportunity for the Kunsthaus to show – in a fitting context – a number of important examples of Classical-Modernist photography that have come into the collection since 1989.

Kunsthaus Zürich / Zürich Exhibition : October 17, 2008 – January 4, 2009
Picture Ballots 2007 and 2008 Heimplatz 1 - 8032 Zurich Openings: view the Internet site of the Museum Internet

Picture Ballot 2007 is all about the drawing ‘Void’ by Mélanie Gugelmann (*1970): fragments of buildings, plants, grids and electricity pylons combine to create a dizzying whole. Her sources and references are limitless – ranging from film and photography, to manga strips, nature, and Vieira da Silva. Gugelmann has a passion for the city with its constantly changing forms and structures. Drawing on the collection of the Kunsthaus, this focus exhibition presents several of Gugelmann’s works in the context of historical and contemporary examples of works that focus on architectural spaces and urban living.
And in 2008, the Members of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft will be able to vote for their favourite piece in a small selection of outstanding sculptures. We await their selection with great interest – as always!

Picture Ballot 2007 is supported by the Dr. Georg und Josi Guggenheim-Stiftung.

Graphische Sammlung der ETH / Zürich Exhibition : May 14 - July 11, 2008
Eric Fischl, James Turrell, Luc Tuymans and their printer Peter Kneubühler Rämistrasse 101 -- CH-8092 Zürich Opening times: view the Internet site of the Sammlung Telefon +41 1 632 40 46 -- Fax +41 1 632 11 68 Internet

Shortly before the unexpected early death of the well-known Zurich printer Peter Kneubühler in 1999 a foundation was grounded in his name, according to his wishes. Here every work printed in his copper plate printing atelier since the early 1970s was included and archived. The singular collection includes, in addition to finished works, a fascinating body of working materials: test prints, state proofs, press proofs, final drafts for approval, artist-dedicated copies, sketches and other models for printing commissions.

The ETH Graphische Sammlung has this year taken over the atelier's entire print holdings, comprising 1,900 single works and 500 portfolios. This acquisition - one of the largest in the last few years - was made possible by the generous support of the Georg and Bertha Schwyzer Foundation in Zurich, without which the comprehensive archive would have gone to the USA (where it would certainly have received a warm welcome). The Graphische Sammlung now officially presents its purchase in an exhibition, showing a selection from the archive.

Over the last eight years the work of the greatest printer of our time has been celebrated many times and in many forms, in portrayals offering a comprehensive overview of Kneubühler's oeuvre and the unique diversity of etching techniques. The Graphische Sammlung exhibition, however, focuses on the work of three important artists from an impressively long list of well-known names: Eric Fischl (b. 1948), James Turrell (b. 1943) and Luc Tuymans (b. 1958).

In Kneubühler all three artists found an adept printer who was sensitive to the finest nuances. Extraordinary, however, were their printed works' unusual starting points: none of these artists had had, before this collaboration, much experience with etching. Despite this, these creations of Kneubühler's workshop represent not only the apogee of his efforts but of 20th-century etching itself. In particular, the commissioned works which appeared for the Peter Blum Edition, New York, are master works. In addition to Fischl's legendary portfolio Year of the Drowned Dog (1983), works from the stunning series First Light (1989/90) by Turrell may also be seen. Tuymans is represented by his 1996 series The Temple. While in his technically complex etchings the painter Fischl explores naturalistic bodies in emotionally-charged scenes, the American light artist James Turrell in his impressive aquatint works tries to draw light out of paper. The Belgian orchestrator of emptiness Tuymans, on the other hand, uses masterly, directly etched film sequence flashbacks to explore the credibility of images and visual media and to build memory via visual imagery. This broad spectrum of widely varying concepts is visualized by Peter Kneubühler's rigorous commitment to realizing an artist's ideas as ideally as possible regardless of technical obstacles.

Vernissage: Dienstag, 13. Mai 2008, um 18 Uhr

Museum Rietberg Zürich - Park-Villa Rieter / Zürich Exhibition : 27 October 2007 to 28 September 2008
Masterpieces from the Museum Rietberg Collection Museum Rietberg Gablerstrasse 15 - 8002 Zürich Tel 01 206 31 31 / Fax 01 206 31 32 Openings: View Internet site of the Museum Internet

Indian artists produced magnificent paintings on paper for the Mughal emperors and the Hindu princes of Rajasthan and the mountainous region of the western Himalayas. These pictures illustrate not only religious and poetic subjects, but also depict aristocratic social gatherings, hunts, music recitals and courtly splendour. A new selection of 65 paintings from the museum collection will be on display from 27 October 2007 and outlines important art historical developments in Indian painting from 1150 to 1850.

Museum Rietberg Zürich - Park-Villa Rieter / Zürich Exhibition : 3 February to 25 May 2008
Cameroon Art of the Kings Museum Rietberg Gablerstrasse 15 - 8002 Zürich Tel 01 206 31 31 / Fax 01 206 31 32 Openings: View Internet site of the Museum Internet

In the fertile, hilly landscape of northwest Cameroon, the grassland region, numerous kingdoms were to form over the course of centuries. The sculptors at such royal courts achieved something exceptional in the area of figurative art: in addition to statues and masks they created a wealth of architectural reliefs, palace pillars and door frames decorated with figures, enormous drums, bowls, tobacco pipes, jewellery and other such symbols of royalty. Counting among some of their most impressive works are the magnificent thrones which, in the African art of the time as well as that of today, occupy a unique position. These works of art played an important role at royal rituals and their power can still be felt today.

Over 150 artistically executed, in part monumental works fashioned in wood, ivory, clay and bronze can be viewed in the exhibition. The prestigious royal accoutrements are frequently decorated with precious glass pearls. For the most part, the exhibits stem from German and French museums and testify to the display of splendour at the royal courts in pre-colonial times. Historical photographs convey something of these splendid royal houses, rapturously described by the first European visitors in the outgoing 19th century.

The present exhibition is the first large show on the traditional artistic work of the Cameroon grassland region. It will be shown exclusively at the Museum Rietberg, in Zurich.

Museum Rietberg Zürich - Park-Villa Rieter / Zürich Exhibition : 3 February to 25 May 2008
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the art of Cameroon Museum Rietberg Gablerstrasse 15 - 8002 Zürich Tel 01 206 31 31 / Fax 01 206 31 32 Openings: View Internet site of the Museum Internet

The small cabinet exhibition shows the influence of traditional art of the Cameroon grassland regions on the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938). Inspired by visits to the ethnographic museums in Berlin and Dresden, the members of the expressionist artists’ group “Brücke” turned to African and Oceanic art forms. Besides finding a new formal language, Kirchner also sought to integrate the so-called “Wild Ones” into his every day life, as vitally linked with nature and as a unique formulation of the original.

The loans – drawings, sculptures and graphic arts by Kirchner as well as sculptures from Cameroon – come predominantly from Swiss museums and private collections as well as from German ethnological museums.

Guest curator: Lucius Grisebach, Director Neues Museum Nürnberg

Fotomuseum Winterthur / Winterthur Exhibition : 01.03.2008 - 12.10.2008
JEDERMANN COLLECTION Set 5 from the Fotomuseum Winterthur Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur Grüzenstrasse 44 + 45 - CH-8400 Winterthur (Zürich) Tel +41 52 233 60 86 - Infoline +41 52 234 10 34 Fax +41 52 233 60 97 Opening hours: view the Internet site of the Museum Internet

Last year, the Fotomuseum Winterthur acquired the high-calibre American "Jedermann Collection", which comprises 177 works by 62 artists with a total of 340 photographs. The list of artists reads like a "Who's Who" of contemporary art and photography. The main part of the collection is focused on the conceptual photography of the 1960s and 70s, with works by Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Victor Burgin, Hamish Fulton, Michael Heizer, Richard Long, Gordon Matta-Clark, Sol LeWitt, Robert Smithson and many others. A second part comprises the media-reflecting, post-modern photography of the 1980s with works by Barbara Bloom, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman and many others who explored the effects of the mass media such as the cinema, magazines, advertising etc. on our society. This purchase has considerably increased the profile of the collection of the Fotomuseum Winterthur. The exhibition "Jedermann Collection" presents central artistic positions of the 20th century, of land art, concept art and appropriation art. The exhibition will be accompanied by the extended Set 5 Collection brochure. The curators are Thomas Seelig and Urs Stahel.

Fotomuseum Winterthur / Winterthur Exhibition : 01.03.2008 - 25.05.2008
EUGÈNE ATGET Paris c. 1900 (Retrospective) Fotomuseum Winterthur Grüzenstrasse 44 + 45 - CH-8400 Winterthur (Zürich) Tel +41 52 233 60 86 - Infoline +41 52 234 10 34 - Fax +41 52 233 60 97 Opening hours: view the Internet site of the Museum Internet

Eugène Atget (1857-1927) is one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. He became famous primarily through his views of the "old Paris", which were coveted by collectors even during his lifetime, and which served numerous painters as sample prints for their work. For a long time known only to a small circle of historians, artists and museum curators, Atget worked tirelessly at capturing with his camera the part of old Paris that was in the process of disappearing: monuments, picturesque corners of the city and hidden courtyards, as well as window displays, shop signs and door knockers, street traders, prostitutes and fairground stalls – and, last but not least, the romantic landscapes of the Parc de Saint-Cloud in the environs of Paris. It was only shortly before his death that his unique status was recognised, and from the 1930s on he became a model and inexhaustible inspiration for photographers as different as Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Robert Doisneau, Bernd and Hilla Becher. Thus he had an enduring influence on 20th century photography. Atget, who was often referred to by the naïve painter Henri Rousseau as the "Rousseau of photography" owing to his affinity with the latter's work, soon made his mark on Robert Desnos, Walter Benjamin and the surrealists. This exhibition, compiled from work from the Bibliothèque nationale de France with the curators Sylvie Aubenas / Guillaume Le Gall on the occasion of the anniversary of Atget's 150th birthday and the 80th anniversary of his death, presents an extensive synthesis of his work and lets the old Paris glide before us in wondrous pictures. The exhibition consists of around 350 works.

Fotostiftung Schweiz / Winterthur Exhibition : 27 October 2007 to 17 February 2008
PICTURES FIGHT The Breakthrough of Modernity around 1930 Fotostiftung Schweiz Grüzenstrasse 45 - 8400 Winterthur Tel. + 41(0)52 234 10 30 opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

The 1930s saw some long-lasting and far-reaching changes in photography: a new, clear and direct visual language asserted itself against traditional pictorial approaches. In Switzerland, this radical change was accompanied by a violent and polemic controversy. What were the arguments of the avant-gardists against the photographic "romantics" or "impressionists"? And on what was the success of the "new vision" based? The exhibition "Pictures Fight" takes us through 120 photographs directly to the heart of this controversy and asks questions about the "essence" of photography that are just as relevant in today's time of digitalisation as they ever were.

In 1932, the Swiss Werkbund (SWB) organised a travelling exhibition of work by young Swiss photographers who propagated the "new photography" – a manifesto against the traditional approach of the "art photographers", or so-called pictorialists, who were still emulating 19th century painting. The exhibition which, after its opening in St. Gallen, was shown in Bern, Aarau, Lausanne, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Basel, Lucerne, Winterthur and Zurich, was a response to the "I. Internationale Ausstellung für künstlerische Photographie" in Lucerne, which was intended to help pictorialism to reach its – somewhat belated – peak in Switzerland.

These two oppositional exhibitions gave rise to an aesthetic debate, during which the SWB travelling exhibition was referred to by the pictorialists as a "chamber of horrors" with "terribly ugly" pictures. The spokesmen of the SWB put up a vehement defence against this defamation and described the Lucerne exhibition as an old fashioned salon of work by outdated "romantics" whose "sickly-sentimental-hypocritical" pictures were damaging to the eye. The "new photography", which concentrated on the genuine means of the medium – light, camera, paper – finally won through; and the "art photographers", the recipients of innumerable medals and diplomas, not only fell into disrepute with critics, collectors and historians but were also soon completely forgotten.

Whereas, with the exception of the reproductions and texts published at the time in the magazine Camera, hardly any of the original photographs shown in the Lucerne exhibition have survived, a large number of originals from the SWB travelling exhibition were recently rediscovered in their archives and permanently loaned to the Fotostiftung Schweiz by the Swiss Werkbund. With the help of Memoriav, the association for the preservation of the audiovisual heritage of Switzerland, the pictures were restored to very nearly their original condition.

This unique discovery gives us the opportunity of throwing new light on the fight, in words and pictures, that raged between the two camps at the beginning of the 1930s. The exhibition confronts high-calibre vintage prints by the avant-gardists (including Binia Bill, Hans Finsler, Herbert Matter, Ernst Mettler, Gotthard Schuh, Robert Spreng und Anton Stankowski) with pictorialist fine art prints with soft contours and romantic subjects on tinted paper such as were shown in the art-photographic exhibitions in Lucerne in 1932-35. The majority of these pictures also originate from the collection of the Fotostiftung Schweiz, for example from the "Master Collection" of the Schweizerische Photographenverband or the estates of Heinrich Bauer (Herisau), Stefan Jasienski (Biel), Emil Lüdin (Zurich) and Carl Schmid (Basel). This is the first time that original photographs from the two enemy camps are shown together and confronted with each other in one exhibition and one book.

Martin Gasser

Fotostiftung Schweiz / Winterthur Exhibition : 1 March to 24 August 2008
Theo Frey Photographs Fotostiftung Schweiz Grüzenstrasse 45 - 8400 Winterthur Tel. + 41(0)52 234 10 30 opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Theo Frey (1908-1997), the Fotostiftung Schweiz pays homage to the work of this classical exponent of Swiss reportage photography in a large-scale retrospective. Frey reported in direct and insistent images on the not always intact Switzerland of the 1930s to the 1960s. He was particularly interested in the lives of ordinary people in the city and in the country. Frey developed his own documentary style, characterised by a precise, unpretentious, sometimes almost austere visual language and motivated by a perceptible social commitment. Frey's reportages are based less on fleeting and dramatic photographs than on his sharp eye for the inconspicuous – for the everyday life that formed the people. In 1986 Theo Frey's archives were acquired by the Swiss Confederation, and in 2006 they were transferred to the Fotostiftung Schweiz, where they have been looked after and researched ever since. Numerous hitherto unnoticed pictures have emerged, which are thoroughly on a level with his better known "icons".

Fotostiftung Schweiz / Winterthur Exhibition : 6 September to 16 November 2008
Luciano Rigolini What you see Fotostiftung Schweiz Grüzenstrasse 45 - 8400 Winterthur Tel. + 41(0)52 234 10 30 opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

Luciano Rigolini, who was born in the Ticino in 1950, became known for his "urban landscapes" in the 1990s – complex city photographs with which he questions the conventions of perception. His concern with the structures of the visible world continued in his later work, whereby his interest was focussed less on reality than on the representations of this reality created by men and machines. The focal point of the exhibition "What you see" is an extensive series of anonymous snapshots that Rigolini discovered in flea markets, forgotten archives or in the Internet. He composed these snapshots into a new, independent work – into a kind of a grammar of seeing. Thus they turn out to be an artefacts that create their own reality: unexpected poetry that tends, metaphorically speaking, to make one lose one's footing. This series is contrasted by work in which Rigolini reworks and develops his "objets trouvés" by digital means

In collaboration with the Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano

Fotostiftung Schweiz / Winterthur Exhibition : 29 November to February 2009
Henriette Grindat Méditerranées Fotostiftung Schweiz Grüzenstrasse 45 - 8400 Winterthur Tel. + 41(0)52 234 10 30 opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

The Lausanne photographer Henriette Grindat (1923-1986) had a special affinity with the Mediterranean. She repeatedly travelled to the country and cities situated around the sea that connects people from various cultures and parts of the world and has influenced their history for thousands of years. But Grindat was not primarily interested in journalistic reportages and portraits of countries. Spain or Egypt, Italy or Algeria: she was less concerned with contemporary history than with the secrets of matter and light – and most particularly of water in all its sensuous and metaphorical aspects. Her bewitching photographic lyricism also emerges as an existential search for meaning. "Méditerranées" is dedicated to a central aspect of Grindat's work, which was also published in several books in the Lausanne series "Guilde du livre" in the 1950s and 60s. In the exhibition special attention is paid to this large-format pubishing project, which provided an important platform for many post-war photographers.

Museum für Gestaltung - Gallery / Zürich Exhibition : 29.09.2007 – 03.02.2008

Im Westen nur Neues
Von der Kunstgewerbeschule zur Zürcher Hochschule der Künste

Ausstellungsstr. 60 - 8005 Zurich
Tram stop "Museum für Gestaltung", tram 4 and 13 or
5 minutes walk from Zurich Main Station / Exit Sihlquai, direction Limmatplatz
Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67
Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum

Internet

The amalgamation in 2007 of the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich (hgkz) with the Hochschule Musik und Theater Zürich (hmt) to form the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) provides an occasion to take both a look back and into the future. The development of the School of Applied Arts –founded in 1878, housed from 1898 in the east wing of the Landesmuseum, located on Ausstellungsstrasse since 1933 and scheduled to move in 2010 to the Toni site – is connected to a continuous geographical shift westwards. As was once the case with settlers, west means new territory, means breaks in history as well as constantly reacting to current needs.The exhibition involves the departments of the ZHdK, which contribute contents relating to the exhibition theme and reflect their own approach to the future. In addition historical milestones, works of important designer-teachers and former students are presented.

Museum für Gestaltung - Hall / Zürich Exhibition : 8.2.2008 – 25.5.2008
Wouldn't it be nice… 10 utopias in art and design Ausstellungsstr. 60 - 8005 Zurich Tram stop "Museum für Gestaltung", tram 4 and 13 or 5 minutes walk from Zurich Main Station / Exit Sihlquai, direction Limmatplatz Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

Art and design have had an enduringly productive relationship. Artists and designers, as well as graphic artists, fashion designers, and architects, share common strategies, methods, and aims. While some artists employ design strategies to make socially critical statements, others use design as a way of reflecting everyday phenomena, emotions, or conceptual approaches. Many designers on the other hand, having dispensed with any belief in the ideal of neutrality, intervene increasingly in social, political, ethical, or ecological discourses. This exhibition confronts ten contemporary positions on the edge of reality, on the border of what is possible. Featuring: Jurgen Bey (NL), Bless (FR/DE), Dexter Sinister (GB/US), Dunne & Raby and Michael Anastassiades (GB), Alicia Framis (ES), Martino Gamper (IT/GB), Ryan Gander (GB), Martí Guixé (ES), Tobias Rehberger (DE) and Superflex (DK). A co-production with the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève and the Haute école d’art et de design Genève.

Museum für Gestaltung - Galerie / Zürich Exhibition : 12.3.2008 – 29.6.2008
Chris Marker a farewell to movies Ausstellungsstr. 60 - 8005 Zurich Tram stop "Museum für Gestaltung", tram 4 and 13 or 5 minutes walk from Zurich Main Station / Exit Sihlquai, direction Limmatplatz Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

This exhibition brings together for the first time several works by Chris Marker (b. 1921), one of the most high-profile figures of recent media history. While films such as La jetée and Sans soleil are regarded as cinema classics, Marker’s intellectual curiosity has produced pioneering contributions in other fields: from the written word and photography to books, video, CD-Rom, and multimedia installations like Silent Movie, a work celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the cinematic medium. His works link language and image in a particularly haunting manner. Important themes for Marker such as memory and social commitment feature prominently in his latest work, Staring Back: powerful portraits of people over six decades, met by chance while traveling, or contemporary historical figures such as Simone Signoret, Akira Kurosawa, Salvador Dalí, or Fidel Castro. Marker’s shot selection reveals a characteristic interplay between the perspective of the observer and the observed.

Museum für Gestaltung - Galerie / Zürich Exhibition : 27.6.2008 – 21.9.2008
Alfredo Häberli Design Development – SurroundThings Ausstellungsstr. 60 - 8005 Zurich Tram stop "Museum für Gestaltung", tram 4 and 13 or 5 minutes walk from Zurich Main Station / Exit Sihlquai, direction Limmatplatz Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

This first solo exhibition of the internationally renowned Zurich designer Alfredo Häberli shows the variety of products and projects that he and his studio make for firms such as Alias, Camper, Iittala, Kvadrat, and Schiffini. The exhibition — divided into five thematic areas — provides insight into the intellectual background and environment from which these works that shift between functionality, precision, lightness, and a playful charm, are created. Following the Overture, the Laboratory — conceived of as a display depot — facilitates an approach to the design process. Exhibits from Swiss design history that have influenced Häberli — the majority from the Museum’s design collection — are presented in three Chalets. Abstract houses form theatrical backdrops for Spots, in which the objects displayed offer a view of the profession of the designer and his work, while in the Lounge, Los Bancos Suizos offer a place to read and to hold events.

Museum für Gestaltung - Galerie / Zürich Exhibition : 24.9.2008 – 4.1.2009
Short Stories in contemporary photography Ausstellungsstr. 60 - 8005 Zurich Tram stop "Museum für Gestaltung", tram 4 and 13 or 5 minutes walk from Zurich Main Station / Exit Sihlquai, direction Limmatplatz Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

In literature, the short story is a concise fictional narrative often perceived as an ideal form for modern storytelling. One can see parallels between the short story and contemporary photography in which distinct narrative possibilities emerge: reportage photography, in which a story is condensed visually; staged photography, in which a plot is developed as in the theater; video stills that condense a complex story in a single image; and photography mixed with different media that distorts or transforms them into a new storytelling form. By presenting the various approaches of international artists — each with its own strong statement — the exhibition highlights the most important strategies of contemporary photographic storytelling, and thus becomes a space with very distinct narratives.

Museum für Gestaltung - Halle / Zürich Exhibition : 31.10.2008 – 22.2.2009
Head to Head Political Portraits Ausstellungsstr. 60 - 8005 Zurich Tram stop "Museum für Gestaltung", tram 4 and 13 or 5 minutes walk from Zurich Main Station / Exit Sihlquai, direction Limmatplatz Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

Politicians are ubiquitous in our society. How they present themselves depends upon the historical context as well as on the form of government and the cultural environment. Image making, campaigning, election battles, and self-presentation — along with the discrediting of opponents — form an important part of political work. The exchange between politicians and the people is a complex, unequal relationship. While the aim is to win the support of broad sectors of the population for a program, genuine exchange with the individual occurs only sporadically. This exhibition illuminates the historical roots, epochal electoral campaigns, recurring patterns of political public relations work, and the shaping of such influential figures as Lenin, Che Guevera, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Yulia Tymoshenko. In collaboration with the Institute for Mass Communication and Media Research Zurich.

Museum für Gestaltung - Plakatraum / Zürich Exhibition : 07.11.2007 – 24.02.2008
Comix! Limmatstr. 55 - 8005 Zurich Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

Thanks to its position between art and popular culture and the way it combines concise, gripping texts and images the comic offers ideal material for appropriation by the poster. Using contemporary examples the exhibition traces the roots of comics in poster design. The Japanese coloured woodcut, Jugendstil and Pop Art have influenced the comic, each in their own way. In the Russian Rosta windows from the 1920s pointed narratives based on images were already employed to spread social contents in a way that reached the masses. Up to the present day designers have continued to use the characteristics and formal aspects of the comic – the rich use of colour, stereotypes, a drastic quality in drawing and a reduction of the vocabulary of gestures and expressions – to convey topical messages. Posters for cultural events offer a rich stylistic diversity and also confirm how elements from the language of comics have grown to achieve graphical independence.

Museum für Gestaltung - Plakatraum / Zürich Exhibition : 9.4.2008 – 20.7.2008
Photo Graphics Posters since 1995 Limmatstr. 55 - 8005 Zurich Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

The effective interplay of photography, graphic design, and typography marks the beginnings of modern graphic design. Starting from the classic photo poster, this exhibition turns the spotlight on selected positions that provide fruitful new interpretations, both by examining the tradition but also by deliberately establishing a distance from it. A clear grid and the use of black and white photography by a number of designers refer to constructivist models. However, these models are animated with a new sensuality and poetry. In recent works, photography is used in an innovative way as a visual design means. Unusual image editing and striking coloring resist the eye’s efforts to establish order, as does playful or deliberately "awkward" typography. Exciting mixtures of image and text become an expression of contemporary tendencies.

Museum für Gestaltung - Plakatraum / Zürich Exhibition : 1.10.2008 – 1.2.2009
Otto Baumberger Advertising Pioneer Limmatstr. 55 - 8005 Zurich Telé +41.43.446 67 67 Fax +41.43.446 45 67 Opening hours: view the site Internet of the Museum Internet

Otto Baumberger (1889 – 1961) was one of the first Swiss who can be correctly described as a "poster designer," even though his personal desire for artistic recognition would remain unfulfilled. As an employee of Wolfensberger AG in Zurich he acquired a sound knowledge of lithography techniques, and used this knowledge to advance and renew the medium, designing over 200 posters. Baumberger was ahead of his time in recognizing important aspects of consumer advertising. Without creating a style of his own, he sought the most appropriate way of conveying a message. His original, inventive images led to a reduction that reached towards abstraction, as image and lettering elements gradually formed an increasingly striking synthesis. The diversity of Baumberger’s work exemplarily embodies the history of Swiss poster art in the first half of the twentieth century, showing the development from the painterly artist’s poster to corporate design shaped by graphic art.

Museum Bellerive / Zürich Ausstellung : 22. Juni – 7. Oktober 2007
The Appearance of Beauty Aspects of Zurich Interiors Museum Bellerive Höschgasse 3 - 8008 Zürich Tel. (01) 383 43 76 Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 10am until 5pm Internet

Taking advantage of an anniversary — "50 Years of Archaeology and Conservation in the Canton of Zurich" — this exhibition examines the design of peaux intérieures of various epochs. It tells of historical periods of the Canton of Zurich when people loved both lavish wall decoration and simple décor, and when craftsmen could produce even the most complicated kinds of ornament. Decorative, stucco, and glass painting, as well as wallpaper and floorings, were carefully matched to the architecture of the rooms. While much of the decoration was destroyed in the course of time, some has survived in the form of models or collector pieces. These have now been placed side by side with today’s designs, thematic translations by contemporary artists that present the conservation and archaeology study collections in a new light. The beautiful appearance of the peaux intérieures is accompanied by works of the artist Heidi Bucher.

Museum Bellerive / Zürich Ausstellung : 11.7.2008 – 5.10.2008
Daum Gallé Tiffany Dreams of Glass Museum Bellerive Höschgasse 3 - 8008 Zürich Tel. (01) 383 43 76 Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 10am until 5pm Internet

Art Nouveau was far more than a formal renewal. It was the first artistic movement that pursued the vision of a Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art. Many of the artists were at the same time painters, sculptors, and designers of jewelry and furniture. Their goal was the perfect harmony of living space that aimed at transforming reality into an imagined mythological world. During this period, glass production attained heights never again achieved. At the Museum Bellerive, the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, itself famous for its Art Nouveau collection, is presenting one of the best private collections of glass objects in the world. This collection, owned by Katharina Büttiker, contains an incomparable wealth of highquality works by Daum, Gallé, and Tiffany, regarded as the most important designers in this field. The objects are shown amidst masterpieces of Symbolist art, also from the collection, which transport visitors into a dreamlike atmosphere.

Museum Bellerive / Zürich Ausstellung : 7.11.2008 – 1.2.2009
Swiss Federal Design Grants 2008 Museum Bellerive Höschgasse 3 - 8008 Zürich Tel. (01) 383 43 76 Opening Hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 10am until 5pm Internet

This competition, organized by the Bundesamt für Kultur (Federal Office of Culture), is one of the most important instruments for the promotion of design. The Museum für Gestaltung Zürich alternates with the mudac in Lausanne in presenting the submitted works and prizewinners. The exhibition — to be held in 2008 at the Museum Bellerive — offers insight into contemporary Swiss design in the fields of graphic, textile, and fashion design, photography, industrial design, jewelry, and stage design. Design is evaluated not only on purely aesthetic, formal, or technical criteria, but also in terms of the emotional message of the objects. The presentation plays a central role, and this year was once again developed in close collaboration with a team of scenographers. For the second time at the opening, the Federal Office of Culture will award the "DESIGNER" prizes, presented to designers who have made a significant contribution in earning national and international recognition for Swiss design.

Kara Art Home