Architecture and the City II

Abstract

The project semester is dedicated to the interplay and mutual conditionality of art, architecture and the city. On the basis of selected works and situations in Zurich, students examine historical and current debates around authorship, public building and urban development. Positions developed through theoretical readings and based upon archival holdings will form the basis for an exhibition.

Objective

The project semester provides insights into archive and source work. The work in the GTA archive and on individual external estates is an occasion to practice dealing with historical documents. A key goal is to accurately read, record, and interpret historical sources (plans, logs, secondary literature, etc.) and to record and present archival findings in short texts. Specific examples will be used to teach skills to explain the changing concept of culture and the material, urban environment. The interplay of architectural-urban structures and the messages conveyed or circulating there will be examined. The change of the urban public sphere will in turn be related to the mediality of art as such.

Content

Key questions of project semester Which historical moments or turning points in Zurich's urban development can be identified from historicism through modernism to the present day on the basis of state-supported art production? What contribution does art make to the constitution and valuation of the public sphere, and how has its degree of effectiveness changed in urban space? What conclusions does this in turn allow us to draw about the development and economy of the city? What were and are the joint conditions for producing 'public art and architecture'? How have commissions, publics, uses, and modes of reception changed over the last century? What happens when the context or function of the artwork, building, or urban space changes, and thus the originally intended message loses its context of meaning?

Resources