Philipp Sarasin, emeritus historian from the University of Zurich and passionate photographer, has photographed a number of major and megacities around the world since 2009 — from Los Angeles to London, Berlin, Cairo, Nairobi, Dubai and Mumbai to Beijing and Jakarta. In doing so, he was driven by the search for a “valid” photographic image of the world in which we live. It is a world that is urban for more than half of humanity — and the trend is rising.
The result of the photo research, which ultimately took 15 years, is “The Big City. A Visual Anthology”. It presents a selection of 120 analytically observational color images. They look at urban space, including all its images and signs, together with the anonymous architecture that shapes the face of 21st century cities. Philipp Sarasin's paintings are neither architectural photography in the strict sense nor do they correspond to classic street photography. Rather, they are in the tradition of urban photography; artistic concepts from photographers such as Stephen Shore, Thomas Struth and Jeff Wall served as inspiration.
An event by the publishing house Scheidegger & Spiess and Never Stop Reading, followed by book sales and an aperitif. Admission is free. The presentation will be held in German.
Important: As an exception, the exhibition will be honored with a finissage, which can be seen from April 29th.
Maude Léonard-Contant, who grew up in Canada and has lived and worked in Switzerland for almost 15 years, creates a pictorial world that is fed by language, from the form of letters, words and sentence fragments, and which manifests itself in often idiosyncratic and room-filling floor work. Language can be felt even (or perhaps even more intensely and strongly) when Léonard-Contant's works are on the verge of comprehensibility — by meticulously articulating forms and surfaces, textures and space. Engaging with materials that are close to her heart and that she carefully selects based on their erotic and narrative potential forms a syntax with which meaning is created and narratives are unfolded.
The work presented at the vernissage “Gathering” presents a cycle of four works that Maude Léonard-Contant created between 2023 and 2025 for exhibitions in Lucerne, Chur, Milan, Altkirch and Stans. These open up places to make room for grief for habitats and living beings in the form of love and declarations of love. The arrangement of the materials — poisonous or healing, seductive or deceptive, all carriers of a story — suggests movement and disappearance and is reminiscent of remnants of rituals that accompany transition and transformation. The illustrations are accompanied by texts by Maude Léonard-Contant, essays by authors Estelle Hoy and Elise Lammer, and an introduction by art historian Gabriela Christen.
An event by Scheidegger & Spiess and Never Stop Reading, followed by book sales and aperitif. Admission is free. The presentation will be held in German.
Prefabricated buildings have always had a particular fascination. The architectural style — characterized by serial repetition, modular construction, clear grids, reduced forms and functional design — is just as interesting as the social level: the coexistence of different cultures, the dynamics of everyday life, and the question of how such places shape our understanding of city and community. At the same time, prefabricated buildings are also historically charged; they report on political, social and urban development developments.
During a week-long project in Berlin, independent graphic designer and F+F lecturer Nick Billinger dedicated himself to Gropiusstadt, one of Germany's most famous prefabricated housing estates. Through repeated forays and photographic approaches, he has examined, observed and documented the historic site. The resulting images are an attempt to gain insights into a complex living space from outside. They range between documentary distance and personal closeness, between sober observation and subtle rapprochement. Billinger, who also heads the Foundation Year department at the art school, has thus created an area of tension that makes less explained than visible, and that deliberately leaves questions unanswered.
At the vernissage, Nick will talk about his experiences, explain his working methods and present the resulting Gropiusstadt zine.
An event by Nick Billinger and Never Stop Reading, followed by zine sales and aperitif. Admission is free. The talk will be held in German.
Willy Guhl (1915—2004), one of the most important Swiss designers of the post-war period, is considered a pioneer of modern, neo-functionalist industrial design. His eternit beach chair or flower box made from the same material are icons of Swiss design history. Guhl designed the Scobalite Chair in 1951 as Europe's first plastic shell, at the same time as Charles Eames' Plastic Chair. From 1941 to 1980, Guhl passed on his knowledge and skills to his students, including Robert Haußmann, Kurt Thut, Verena Huber and Andreas Christen.
Willy Guhl followed a particular design approach, which results from a step-by-step design process linked to the senses and the body, including his own, experimental-research approach. Based on Guhl's almost completely preserved but still undiscovered and unedited estate, Katrin reconstructs Stowasser in the book “Sense of touch as a form” his particular way of working. The associated design approach is illustrated using selected examples from Guhl's complete works.
An event by Scheidegger & Spiess and Never Stop Reading, followed by book sales and aperitif. Admission is free. The presentation will be held in German.