Dear to Me – Peter Zumthor in Conversation
18 booklets in a slipcase.
444 pages English edition, 456 pages German edition.
In the summer of 2017, as part of the program of the exhibition ‘Dear to Me’ at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Peter Zumthor held conversations with eminent philosophers, curators, historians, composers, writers, photographers, collectors, and craftsmen that he has been inspired by in his own work. These dialogues o­ffer insight into the thoughts and life experiences of these fascinating personalities. Conversations with Anita Albus, Aleida Assmann, Marcel Beyer, Hélène Binet, Hannes Böhringer, RenateBreuss, claudiacomte, Bice Curiger, Esther Kinsky, Ralf Konersmann, Walter Lietha, Olga Neuwirth, Rebecca Saunders, Karl Schlögel, Martin Seel, Rudolf Walli and Wim Wenders are collected in seventeen booklets together with an eighteenth complementary booklet documenting the Dear to Me exhibition in Bregenz.

New Material Presences in Photography

New Material Presences in Photography explores the relationship between photography and the materiality of architecture. The research focuses on how architectonic materials are translated into photographs and how the medium of photography, in its different analog and digital forms, can help us understand architecture differently.

This PhD project works at the intersection of photographic practice as artistic research, theory of photography and philosophy, with the focus on the materiality of architecture. New Material Presences in Photography aims at challenging traditional understandings of the medium of photography as a tool for representation by finding methods of image simulation which can reframe our direct encounters with built space. This exploration does not aim at undermining the existing theoretical discourse of photography. It rather attempts to move beyond the traditional dualisms of the subject as the original and photograph as its second order copy by finding methods of engaging, practicing, and reflecting on the medium.

The dissertation uses Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction as its initial method of testing the relationship of architecture and its photograph through the “thesis of translatability” (Derrida 2010, IX). Afterwards, Brian Massumi’s reading of Simulation by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Manuel DeLanda’s New Materialism and Henri-Louis Bergson’s theory of time – together with other theoretical readings on architecture and photography – guide this project’s exploration of material presences in photography.

Alongside the written dissertation, a practice-based body of photographic simulations have shaped four installations exhibited during the course of the research. These installations investigate the Degerfelden sandstone used in the Basler Münster as their main case study. Throughout this research it becomes evident that photographs can be considered as entities with two Image and Material surfaces. The Intra-act (Barad 2007, 141) of these two surfaces can shape narratives, which add to our phenomenological encounters and in some cases go beyond our direct experience with architecture by providing information which we could have not known otherwise. This type of material photography can additionally result in breaking the linearity of time, pointing out a coexistence of pasts and presents embedded on the photographic surfaces simultaneously.

Combining practice-based and theoretical components, this thesis describes how signature-events (Derrida 2008, 20) of the Image Surface and the signature-forms (Ibid) of the Real Surface, which are spatialized and divisible, can closely align with the Bergsonian concept of Duration (Bergson 1950, 107–8). A Duration manifested in a form of intuitive presence on both architectural materials as well as their autonomous photographs.

 

Installation Shots at Multi Soft Konstanz, 2023.

 

Derrida, Jacques. 2010. Copy, Archive, Signature: A Conversation on Photography. edited by Gerhard Richter. Translated by Jeff Fort. Redwood City: Stanford University Press.

Barad, Karen. 2007. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.

Derrida, Jacques. 2008. Limited Inc. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

Bergson, Henri. 1950. Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness. Translated by F. L. Pogson, M.A. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

A house by Jurij von Aster, Kilchberg, 2024.

 

Reflections

Lecture Series at IDCE HGK Basel

2025
For this series, the Institute of Digital Communication Environments at HGK Basel hosts five lecturers who explore a diverse range of practical research processes. These topics include accidents in both analog and digital media, the preservation and repair of serially, industrially, and digitally manufactured constructions, human physicality within digital spaces, and the intersection of digital and analog publishing.

 

 

Sandstone dissociation I, C-type Print.

A house by Jurij von Aster, Kilchberg, 2024.

 

Sandstone dissociation II & III, C-type Print.

Caesar Zumthor Architekten, Infrastrukturgebäude Rosenfeldpark, Basel, 2024.

 

Sandstone dissociation IV & V, C-type Print.

Vipusentie Project, Lindroos Architects, Helsinki, 2024.

 

Basler Münster, West Façade, Sand Silkscreen.

Vipusentie Project, Lindroos Architects, Helsinki, 2024.

 

Basler Münster Stereoscopic Photograph from 1870s and Mason’s Practice Block.

Vipusentie Project, Lindroos Architects, Helsinki, 2024.

 

Degerfelden Forest, 8×10 Kodak Ektar 100 Negatives.

Vipusentie Project, Lindroos Architects, Helsinki, 2024.

 

Paper Sandstone, Sand Silkscreen.

Tituskirche, Benedikt Huber, Bruderholz, 1964.

 

Sandstone, Digital Deterioration, Pigment Giclée Prints.

Tituskirche, Benedikt Huber, Bruderholz, 1964.

 

Sandstone dissociation IV & V, C-type Print.

Tituskirche, Benedikt Huber, Bruderholz, 1964.

 

Zumthor Vacation Homes, Peter Zumtor, Vals.

 

Basler Münster Construction, East Façade, Pigment Giclée Print mounted on 3-Ply Shuttering Panel and Granular Loss, AI-generated Sandstone Surfaces.

Zumthor Vacation Homes, Peter Zumtor, Vals.

 

Zumthor Vacation Homes, Peter Zumtor, Vals.

 

Helsinki Dreispitz, Herzog & de Meuron.

 

Helsinki Dreispitz, Herzog & de Meuron.

 

Ateliergebäude, HGK Basel, Müller Sigrist Architekten AG.

 

Ateliergebäude, HGK Basel, Müller Sigrist Architekten AG.

 

Transitlager Münchenstein construction process, Bjarke Ingels Group.

 

Studio Balthasar Wirz, Mehrfamilienhäuser, Arlesheim.

 

Bond House, Pedrocchi Architekten, Sissach.

 

The Bond House, Pedrocchi Architekten.

 

Gannet construction process, Caesar Zumthor Architekten, Basel.

 

HGK Basel, Campus Werkstätten construction process.

 

HGK Basel, Ateliergebäude construction process.

 

Transitlager Münchenstein construction process, Bjarke Ingels Group.

 

Transitlager Münchenstein construction process, Bjarke Ingels Group.

 

The Tower of Babel Project, Book Design, with Dominik Denzler

Dear to Me
Peter Zumthor in Conversation
18 booklets in a slipcase
444 pages English edition, 456 pages German edition

In the summer of 2017, as part of the program of the exhibition ‘Dear to Me’ at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Peter Zumthor held conversations with eminent philosophers, curators, historians, composers, writers, photographers, collectors, and craftsmen that he has been inspired by in his own work. These dialogues o­ffer insight into the thoughts and life experiences of these fascinating personalities. Peter Zumthor’s equally serious and serene conversations with Anita Albus, Aleida Assmann, Marcel Beyer, Hélène Binet, Hannes Böhringer, Renate Breuss, Claudia Comte, Bice Curiger, Esther Kinsky, Ralf Konersmann, Walter Lietha, Olga Neuwirth, Rebecca Saunders, Karl Schlögel, Martin Seel, Rudolf Walli and Wim Wenders are collected in seventeen booklets together with an eighteenth complementary booklet documenting the Dear to Me exhibition in Bregenz.

 

 

BANG BANG

Translokale Performance Geschichte:n

Ein Ausstellungsprojekt von Revolving Histories/Performance Chronik Basel und
Museum Tinguely
Text: Sarina Scheidegger

 

Zumthor's Books and Alcohol Sextett

Klavierwerkstatt René Waldhauser

Werkstattkonzert with: Tizia Zimmermann (Akkordeon/Gong), Raphael Camenisch (Saxophone/Gong), Simone Keller (Klavier/Gong), Philipp Eden (Klavier/Gong), Paul Amereller (Drumset/Gong), Peter Conradin Zumthor (Drumset/Gong/Komposition)

 

13

Poster Edition

For Ariane Koch and Sarina Scheidegger's Performance at Kunsthalle Basel, 2017
The performance «13» united thirteen monologues written by the artists and performed by thirteen performers during the time of thirteen days at Kunsthalle Basel. Each day one performer and one monologue was added. Beside the performance there was a poster edition consisting of thirteen posters which were shown in a daily change outside of the Kunsthalle, announcing the next character to be joined the performance. The edition was sold in the bookshop at Kunsthalle Basel. The text were later on published in the publication «13» with a text by Alice Wilke.
Performers: Ana Castaño Almendral, Esther Becker, Meret Bodamer, Anna Christen, Danny Exnar, Lucien Haug, Khadija Merzougue, Jürg Mumenthaler, Marcus Rehberger, Venus Electra Ryter, Julius Schröder, Denis Wagner, David Werner.

 

 

Website for Pedrocchi Architekten.

 

 

REUSE
Terms like reuse, recycling and upcycling are inseparable parts of today’s art and design discourse and practice. However, when looking back we realise that building upon our past – whether in the sense of material resources or in reworking ideas – has always been a significant part of creative art and design processes since ancient times. Today’s approach of reuse is often related primarily to the idea of sustainability, but as the examples of the lecture series show, reuse can address aspects such as cultural memory, heritage, technological development, care etc. IDCE’s spring lecture series explores the notion of Reuse by looking into its research and practice from the following 5 standpoints: INCHfurniture – Thomas Wüthrich, Sabine Hertig, Karen Amanda Moser, Teresa Dillon, Benjamin Gaulon.

 

 

Rosa & Louise – A Feminist Manifesto in Dialogues

The examination of the structures of feminist discourse forms the basis of the manifesto that is continuously rewritten by Ariane Koch and Sarina Scheidegger. The multilingual performance was shown in different stages and contexts as a performance – spoken by two performers – and as a poster edition. How can and does feminism be articulated in different cultures? How can we relate to it? Who is speaking? Who is allowed to speak? How are stereotypes and clichés reproduced and negotiated? Where are the intersections in discourse that differs depending on the national, geographic, historical, cultural, or social context in which we live – but is also similar in many ways? Where can we use the feminist perspective to establish general societal questions? How can feminism be a tool to broaden and renew history [for all of us]? On going poster series since 2013

 

 

Website for Caesar Zumthor Architekten.

 

 

Loneliness Kills Anna
Eine wundersame Expedition ins Innere von Alter, Krankheit und Einsamkeit
Suly Röthlisberger, Ursula Reiter, Vera Kappeler, Peter Conradin Zumthor

Eine alte Frau sitzt seit Jahren schwer behindert im Rollstuhl. Sie kann sich schlecht bewegen, das Sprechen fällt ihr schwer. Die soziale Isolation verändert ihre Wahrnehmung. Die Leere wirkt wie ein Hohlspiegel, die Realitäten verschieben sich. Die Einsamkeit der Frau wird monströser als ihre Krankheit. Einzig eine Betreuerin kommt regelmässig zu Besuch. Dann entspinnen sich existentielle Dialoge über das Leben im Vakuum, und durch alles Schwere schimmert fein der Humor. Es ist das erste Theaterstück des Schlagzeugers Peter Conradin Zumthor. Er zeichnet zusammen mit der Pianistin Vera Kappeler auch für die Live-Musik verantwortlich. Ein gleichberechtigtes Zusammenwirken von Licht, Text, Ton, Schauspiel und Raum lässt die Protagonistin wie unter dem Brennglas erscheinen.
Ausgezeichnet mit dem Kak Tapir Culture Award

 

 

Text: Sarina Scheidegger

 

 

MDes Basel

A selection of covers and posters for the Master of Design programm housed at The Institute for Digital Communication Environments at HGK Basel and School of Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

 

 

Notes on Hideouts

Vinyl Edition

This project was initiated by Rodrigo Toro Madrid and Sarina Scheidegger for Tsonami International Sound Art Festival in Chile, in collaboration with the program COINCIDENCIA by Pro Helvetia and Radio Lora. The invited artists - Franziska Baumgartner, Gerome Gadient, Vanessa Heer & Caroline Ann Baur, Flo Kaufmann, Stéphanie Rosianu - created sounds in relation to «Hideouts» referring to places which might really exist but also to a mindset, a spot which is imaginative and phantasmagorical. Hideouts» are places which can’t or shouldn’t be found, they are hidden and out of reach for the others but they are also calling for attention. With the «Hideout» comes the searching and seeking. «Hideouts» are much more than physical places, they are present in our way of thinking, in our imagination and (day)dreams. The sounds relate to hidden messages, hybrids of different languages, their translations and the empowerment they can create, they reveal spacial encounters and ruptured storytelling, countdowns of absence and collaborative processes of sound making.

 

 

Within Others' Sounds

Record cover for Caroline Ann Baur & Vanessà Heer, Jimena Croceri, Gerome Gadient, Marten Seedorf & Franziska Baumgartner, Romy Rüegger, Rodrigo Toro Madrid. Präsentiert von Stingray Editions.

 

 

10 years of CARAVAN

Series of Exhibitions of Young Art Text: Ariane Koch & Sarina Scheidegger

 

 

Kaserne Poster Series.

text: Hannah Weinberger

 

 

Exhibition poster for Kunsthalle Palazzo with
Vanessa Billy, Markus Gadient, Barbara Maria Meyer and Edit Oderbolz

 

 

AnalogDigitalMaterial

Poster for the 2021 Spring Semester Lecture Series

With: Jimena Croceri, Keetra Deen Dixon, Morehshin Allahyari, Elise Co, Anne Holtrop, Katherine Moriwaki and Xin Xin

The lecture series of the Institute for Visual Communication HGK FHNW Spring 2021, with the title AnalogDigitalMaterial, presents a series of communication, design, and art practices meandering between analog and digital processes. The outcomes of these individual journeys pose the question, in which sense there is materiality in digital environments, and in which form the digital can appear in materialized objects. This series conjures our current shared experience in remote education at Universities, as well as to the widely debated insight that materials provide an often-overlooked structure for the development of a field of contingencies in a creative process.

 

 

website with: Ted Davis

 

 

Poster for Double Editions at Liste Art Fair Basel.

 

 

Where

Promotional poster for the newly built Volta area of Basel.

 

 

Publishing

Poster for the Winter Semester Lecture Series
at the Visual Communication Institute of HGK Basel

 

 

Website for the institute Digital Communication Environments' lecture series titles Publishing.
with Ted Davis.