31 Aug 2012

Art and the City – Public Art Festival in Zurich

ART AND THE CITY – Public Art Festival from 9 June until 23 September 2012 in Zurich West. This art and exhibition platform reflects on and embeds itself in the up-and-coming city district of Zurich,presenting some 40 works by artists from all over the world.

The exhibition project includes the ART AND THE CITY symposium, to be held on 22 September 2012. This symposium will deal with current topics regarding urban development, including the subject of land being reserved for building or maintained as cultural heritage. The role of large-scale artistic events as drivers of innovation will also be discussed, as will the role of art in public places – should it be participative, decorative, subversive or though-provoking?

Feat.:
 Bice Curiger, 
Christoph Doswald, 
Hedwig Fijen, 
Ruth Genner, 
Victor Gisler, 
Peter Haerle, 
Markus Miessen, 
Marjetica Potrc / Ooze Architects, 
Tim Rieniets, 
Christoph Schenker, 
Anna Schindler, 
Philip Ursprung, 
Rein Wolfs.

Saturday, 22 September 2012,
9 am – 5 pm 

Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland

ART AND THE CITY is a project initiative of the City of Zurich. In addition, various off-spaces, foundations, colleges and art centers as well as a large number of renowned Swiss galleries and art institutions are involved in the project.

Initiated by the Public Art Task Force (Arbeitsgruppe Kunst im öffentlichen Raum), the exhibition includes roughly 40 works by artists from all over the world that are installed at various locations in Zurich West. Sculptures, installations, performances, posters and interventions, some in unconventional places, allow for surprising encounters with art and the city, facilitating a new way of experiencing Zurich West beyond the thoroughfares and construction sites.

In selecting artists, ART AND THE CITY focuses on art practitioners who have been addressing issues of urban development and transformation processes of urban space in depth since the 1970s. They include artists such as Richard Tuttle, Fred Sandback, Yona Friedman and Charlotte Posenenske. In addition, ART AND THE CITY presents a contemporary generation of artists concerned with all aspects of urban life: from actual construction and architectural issues to manifold social issues, elaborated on, among others, by Martin Creed, Christian Jankowski and OscarTuazon. Also on view are works by Subodh Gupta, Sandra Kranich, Beat Zoderer, Lara Almarcegui and by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.