ZURICH - In Your Pocket

12 HISTORY
Romans and Schwyzerdüütsch
100BC - X Century
Around 15 BC the Romans established a military base at
the site of today’s Lindenhof where you can find a copy of
the Roman tomb stone mentioning Turicum, the word from
which Zurich developed. Roman rule ended around 400
AD and nobody really has any idea what went on in Zurich for
the next few centuries. One important change that falls into
this obscure period is the arrival of the Germanic tribe of the
Allemanni, who brought with them the language that was to
become today’s Swiss German dialect (Schwyzerdüütsch).
Zurich in women’s hands
XII - XIV Century
In the 13th Century Zurich became
an imperial city, answering only to the
emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Formally Zurich was now headed by a
woman - the abbess of the Fraumünster
abbey. In 1336 an uprising of Zurich’s
craftsmen made the newly founded
guilds the foundation of Zurich’s political
structure, weakening the power of the church and the
landed gentry. Many of the guild houses, still in use today,
are now also restaurants like the Zunfthaus Zur Schmiden
or the Zunfthaus am Neumarkt (emblem of the guild of the
shoemakers on the left).
Zurich goes Swiss… and Protestant
XIV - XVI Century
The guild revolution left Zurich a little isolated, so in 1351 Zurich
joined ‘Switzerland’, which had existed as a treaty since 1291.
This however didn’t stop the city waging war against fellow
cantons, such as against Schwyz which got in the way of Zurich’s
plans for territorial expansion. Soon the city ruled over lands
all around Lake Zurich and north all the way to the river Rhine.
XVI Century
Huldrych Zwingli, priest at the Grossmünster, was a major
critic of mercenary service. But he had a lot more to say on
moral matters and became the initiator of the Reformation
in Zurich from 1520 on. Apart from banning mercenary
service the Reformation meant an end to all frivolous
behaviour - drinking, prostitution and actually most fun was
forbidden or strictly regulated.
Napoleon causes a little bother
XVI - XVIII Century
During the 16th and 17th Centuries Zurich’s wealth and
influence increased. While political power was increasingly
monopolised by a few families, new ideas and debate
flourished. Among the intellectuals of the time were the
educational reformer Heinrich Pestalozzi or the painter
Johann Heinrich Füssli, whose work you’ll find today in the
Kunsthaus. In 1798 Zurich lost its independence as Napoleon
took over, transforming the Swiss Confederacy into the
Helvetic Republic, a centralised puppet state which only
survived for five years.
Railways and radical workers
XIX - XX Century
Modern-day Switzerland was founded in 1848 as a
federation with much closer ties between the cantons than
before. The year before, the first railway line in Switzerland
Zurich In Your Pocket zurich.inyourpocket.com
Löwenbräuareal - an exciting
brew of contemporary art
Dust, noise, a few well-built construction workers – the
scenery at the Löwenbräu site these days is not what
you might expect when you enter an art centre. But don’t
be scared off, the redevelopment of this 19th century
industrial site is actually near completion and many
galleries have already opened shop. So step inside!
Zurich’s somewhat grim reformator Huldrych Zwingli. ZIYP was opened. Railways were the business Alfred Escher
A detail of the new Löwenbräu architecture. MV
was in. He dominated Zurich and Swiss politics for the next
few decades like no other. Escher’s statue can be found, not
surprisingly, just in front of the main train station. Switzerland
remained neutral during the First World War and was refuge
to the artists who started the Dada movement in Zurich. The
war exacerbated the poverty of the working classes and in
1918 a socialist committee called a general strike. Many
of the committee’s demands were later fulfilled, though not
the demand for the right of women to vote, which was not
introduced until 1971!
The Réduit and the war
XX Century
During most of the Second World War Switzerland, formally
neutral, was totally surrounded by the Axis powers, making
it difficult to import food and other goods. General Guisan
prepared for a military attack by literally hollowing out the
Alps, envisaging a guerrilla war from the mountains, the
so-called réduit strategy. From a traditional point of view
this is what saved Switzerland from becoming part of Nazi
Germany, but more recently historians have suggested that
other factors may have been more important, sparking off
intense and emotional public debate in the 1990s.
Zurich today XX - XXI Century
After the war Switzerland’s economy
boomed and mass immigration from
Southern Europe set in, while culturally
and politically Switzerland remained very
conservative. In 1968 and 1980 youth
movements clashed with police, but
also brought new cultural life to Zurich.
Today Zurich is still a major financial
centre and has lost the conservative reputation. It has
become popular as a place to live for highly-skilled workers
from across Europe. This has made the lack of affordable
apartments one of the major topics in Zurich today.
This is probably the best place to go in Zurich if you’re
looking for a large and varied offering of contemporary art
The amount of art on display here is very impressive – it’s
a bit like a modern-art mall. The Kunsthalle, run by the city,
occupies several large rooms, the Migros museum funded
by the eponymous Swiss retailer has its premises here as
well as the private galleries Hauser & Wirth, Bob van Orsouw,
Luma Westbau / Pool etc. and Galerie Freymond-Guth. And
while you need a ticket for the Migros museum and the
Kunsthalle, entry to the galleries is absolutely free.
Originally the Löwenbrau site had nothing to do with art.
Its story is a miniature version of the history of the district
(or kreis) 5 where its located – first came industry, then
failures and closures, then artists and experiments, and now
big money is pouring into new developments. The red-brick
complex was built in 1897 to house a large brewery which soon
took on the name Löwenbräu, i.e. lion’s brew. Malt and hops
were processed here for nearly a hundred years until 1986,
when the new owner, Swiss beer producer Hürlimann, closed
the plant and the lion roared his last. Thanks to the fact that
the building is listed and could not be torn down, art galleries
and art museums opened up in the Löwenbrau grounds.
The latest chapter is the current redevelopment.
Two big names from Zurich’s architecture scene were
commissioned, Anette Gigon and Mike Guyer who have
just finished Zurich’s new landmark – the nearby Prime
Tower. They added an extra storey with a white finish to
the building nearest to Escher-Wyss Platz, while placing a
simple, nine-storey rectangular block with a red façade as
a counterweight at the other end of the site. In between
the two, the construction workers have pulled up the most
eye-catching part of the complex, a black, asymmetric
block twice as tall as the rest. This tower rises up from
the yard behind the row of smaller original buildings, and
then extends out over them, with a dozen floors in this
overhanging section. It includes apartments with hefty
price tags, some apparently going for over three million Sfr.
zurich.inyourpocket.com
A CLOSER LOOK
There is also the odd million hanging around in the
exhibition rooms inside, but you can enjoy them with less
money in your pocket. Hauser & Wirth are currently showing
two artists solo, the eminent US artist Paul McCarthy in the
lower rooms and the British Thomas Houseago in the room on
the first floor, both until 20 October. The McCarthy exhibition
named PROPO shows a series of large format photographs
of larger-than-life, soiled objects the artist used in his
performances in the 1960s. Whether soft toys or bottles
of face cream, each item is carefully displayed in front of a
coloured background, formulating a subtle commentary on
consumer culture and the quest for beauty. One floor further
down, in the dungeons so to speak, you can see videos of two
of McCarthy’s performances (e.g. Sailor’s Meat, 1975). These
are nothing for the faint hearted. Using creams, sauces,
pieces of meat and his body, the artist explores sexual, bodily
and conceptual borders. The Houseago exhibition shows
reliefs and masks, as well a new work, a human figure five
metres long lying on the floor, made of flat plaster boards
and iron reinforcement bars, almost ready to jump.
The other exhibitions are well worth a visit too. The
Kunsthalle is showing a series of large-scale prints by
Wolfgang Tillmans with scenes from across the world. Airport
passport queues, sprawling industrial areas, surgeons in
the course of an operation, myriad surfaces of the modern
world. Helen Marten’s work is a combination of understated
sculpture and text elements (both until 4.11). The Bob van
Orsouw gallery is showing a number of drawings and objects
by Hannah Greely, like a shadow figure caught in a steel rain
shower under a cloud (until 13.10). And finally the Freymond-
Guth gallery is showing a film by Dani Gal, Nacht und Nebel,
which examines an episode involving the executed Nazi Adolf
Eichmann (until 6.10).
Paul McCarthy at Hauser & Wirth.
Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich
So if you have an appetite for contemporary art or
cutting-edge architecture, stop off at the Löwenbräuareal.
With a bit of luck the construction site will be gone. And if
you fancy a beer afterwards, the Markthalle (see p. 31) next
door is a good bet.
Chris Young
Löwenbräukunst
Limmatstrasse 270, 8Dammweg,
www.loewenbraeukunst.ch
Galleries usually open 12:00 - 18:00, Sat 11:00 - 17:00,
Sun & Mon closed. Kunsthalle additionally open on Thu
until 20:00 (free admission 17:00 - 20:00). Galleries: free
admission, Kunsthalle: 12/8Sfr.
The opening of the Migros museum and the art bookshop
Kunstgriff has been postponed to an unknown date.
October - November 2012
13
© Paul McCarthy Courtesy der Künstler und
Hauser & Wirth.