Issue 48 / September 2020 Notes on Curating www.oncurating.org Zurich Issue: Dark Matter, Grey Zones, Red Light, and Bling Bling Contributions by Giovanna Bragaglia, Brandy Butler, Jose Cáceres Mardones, Yara Dulac Gisler, Deborah Joyce Holman, Pablo Müller, Miwa Negoro, Sarah Owens, Camille Regli, Tanja Trampe, Marina Vishmidt Interviews with Mitchell Anderson, Nadja Baldini, Livio Baumgartner, Annette Bhagwati, Mirjam Bayerdörfer, Philipp Bergmann, Maria Bill, Clifford E. Bruckmann, Roger M. Buergel, Karolina Dankow, Adriana Domínguez, Christoph Doswald, Elisabeth Eberle, Ann-Kathrin Eickhoff, Esther Eppstein, Christian Etter, Allam Fakhour, Corrado Ferrari, Fredi Fischli, Anne-Laure Franchette, Arianna Gellini, Kristina Grigorjeva, Anne Gruber, Antonia Hersche, Christian Jankowski, Cathrin Jarema, Linda Jensen, Tobias Kaspar, Nicola Kazimir, Esther Kempf, Emil Michael Klein, Lucie Kolb, Sabina Kohler, Andreas Marti, Maya Minder, Pablo Müller, Adrian Notz, Niels Olsen, Ludovica Parenti, Barbara Preisig, Eva Presenhuber, Thea Reifler, Elena Rosauro, Nina Roehrs, Giampaolo Russo, Sabine Schaschl, David Schildknecht, Evelyn Steiner, Marc Streit, U5, Regula Weber, Judith Welter, Eva-Maria Würth, Romano Zerbini Edited by Ronald Kolb, Dorothee Richter Contents Zurich Issue: Dark Matter, Grey Zones, Red Light, and Bling Bling 4 Editorial Ronald Kolb, Dorothee Richter Part 1 Part 2 15 81 Between Art and Politics: Eva-Maria Würth Failure Is A Possibility Interviewed by Dorothee Richter Interview With Cathrin Jarema and Clifford E. Bruckmann 21 Interviewed by Gözde Filinta I might be wrong—Focus on Off-Spaces Unravelling Success in a Discursive Series 85 Giovanna Bragaglia, Miwa Negoro, Camille Regli Statement on the Covid Situation Cathrin Jarema and Clifford E. Bruckmann 28 A discussion on Blackness and the Arts 88 in Switzerland la_cápsula—between Latin America and Brandy Butler, Yara Dulac Gisler, Switzerland: An Exploration in Three Acts Deborah Joyce Holman, Sarah Owens Interviewed by Jose Cáceres and Noriko Yamakoshi 39 95 In Search of the Locality of Globalization: Brand-New-Life Ursula Biemann’s Postcolonial Critique Interviewed by Ronald Kolb and Dorothee Richter Jose Cáceres Mardones 97 45 Andreas Marti, Dienstgebäude Dead End? Interviewed by Daniela Hediger Pablo Müller 100 50 Kristina Grigorjeva, Curator at BINZ39 CAN I WORK LIKE THIS? Interviewed by Tea Virolainen In Search of Presence in Pandemic Times Tanja Trampe 105 Die Diele and Sihlhalle 59 Interviewed by Eveline Mathis and Beatrice Fontana Nadja Baldini Interviewed by Ronald Kolb 110 Hidden Spaces and Heavy Satin—Last Tango 62 Interviewed by Anastasia Chaguidouline Elisabeth Eberle Interviewed by Dorothee Richter 113 LONGTANG 66 Interviewed by Domenico Ermanno Roberti, The Aesthetic Subject Beatrice Fontana, and Eveline Mathis and the Politics of Speculative Labor Marina Vishmidt 116 Nicola Kazimir, Mikro Interviewed by Domenico Ermanno Roberti 1 Issue 48 / September 2020 Contents Zurich Issue: Dark Matter, Grey Zones, Red Light, and Bling Bling 121 Part 3 nano–Raum für Kunst, Zurich Interview with Maria Bill, Antonia Hersche, 169 and Regula Weber Four Years After Manifesta 11: Interviewed by Alina Baldini Christian Jankowski Interviewed by Sergio Edelsztein 124 Romano Zerbini, Photobastei 174 Interviewed by Beatrice Fontana Constellations of Knowledges: Annette Bhagwati 129 Interviewed by Gözde Filinta Mitchell Anderson, Plymouth Rock Interviewed by Domenico Ermanno Roberti 176 Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen 134 Interviewed by Dorothee Richter Sabina Kohler, jevouspropose Interviewed by Noémie Jeunet 180 Marc Streit 139 Interviewed by Abongile Gwele and U5 Patrycja Wojciechowska Interviewed by Patrycja Wojciechowska 186 145 Barbara Basting, Cultural Department Book as Art or Reading as Seeing: Volumes of the City of Zurich Anne-Laure Franchette, Art Director at Volumes Interviewed by Ronald Kolb and Dorothee Richter Interviewed by Marco Arrigoni 189 149 Christoph Doswald, Chairman of the Working Sculpting Through the Ashes, the Journey of Group for Art in Public Space, KiöR Allam Fakhour Interviewed by Alina Baldini and Tea Virolainen by Rafia Kodmani Jordi 152 194 Thinking Alone Is Criminal: Artist Maya Minder Roger M. Buergel, Johann Jacobs Museum Interviewed by Gözde Filinta Interviewed by Ronald Kolb 155 197 Esther Kempf An Ecosystem at Work. Mirjam Bayerdörfer Interviewed by Oliver Rico Interviewed by Arianna Guidi and Myriam Boutry 159 203 Giampaolo Russo Shedhalle Contaminated Interviewed by Oliver Rico Interview with Thea Reifler and Philipp Bergmann 163 Interviewed by Arianna Guidi, Jose Cáceres Enriching the Homogenic Zurich Art Scene: Mardones, Myriam Boutry Esther Eppstein Interviewed by Daniela Hediger 2 Issue 48 / September 2020 Contents Zurich Issue: Dark Matter, Grey Zones, Red Light, and Bling Bling 206 I don’t want to be an artist. I want to be a King. Adrian Notz (Cabaret Voltaire 2004–2019) Interviewed by Elena Vogiatzi and Anastasia Chaguidouline 215 Interview with Evelyn Steiner, Curator at ZAZ – Zentrum Architektur Zürich Interviewed by Beatrice Fontana and Noémie Jeunet 221 Museum of Digital Art – MuDA – Zurich: Christian Etter Interviewed by Alina Baldini 224 Art as a Prize: the Zurich Art Prize Sabine Schaschl, Director of Museum Haus Konstruktiv Interviewed by Marco Arrigoni 226 “There is no magic”: An Interview with Art Dealer Eva Presenhuber Interviewed by Maya Bamberger 229 Karma International Interviewed by Patrycja Wojciechowska 237 Art In The Digital Age: Nina Roehrs, Roehrs & Boetsch Interviewed by Giulia Frattini 242 Lullin + Ferrari: Interview with Corrado Ferrari Interviewed by Alina Baldini 244 Imprint 3 Issue 48 / September 2020 Editorial Zurich Issue: Dark Matter, Grey Zones, Red Light, and Bling Bling Editorial Ronald Kolb, Dorothee Richter “OnCurating, the Zurich Issue: Dark Matter, Grey Zones, Red Light, and Bling Bling” seeks to bring to the forefront the various positions and strategies of the most diverse art initiatives, from project and off-spaces to personalities within the art field, as well as those of established galleries and institutions and city officials based in Zurich in 2020. Originally, this issue was intended to draw a picture of the Zurich art scene and was meant to be published parallel to Art Basel 2020. Now, with a significantly smaller crowd, we inform the international art scene through our website and not just the art flâneurs invading Basel and Zurich. We hope that this issue will nevertheless give a longer-term idea of art in Zurich. We conducted over forty interviews with initiators of the most diverse project spaces and off-spaces, projects without a space, city/government-funded institutions, city representatives for the cultural sector, temporarily funded and non-funded institu- tions, art lovers’ initiatives, artists and projects in favor of art discourse and critical art, and personalities having resided in Zurich for a long time, knowledgeable about the historical changes. The questions in the interviews ranged from the history and concept of the respective project space and its curatorial approach, to financing and sustaining the project, how working processes are set up, about measures of inclusive- ness, about their own agenda within Zurich and internationally, and so on. Clearly, you will not find a homogeneous art scene in Zurich. Even within off-spaces and project spaces, there are huge differences: some are quite in line within distinctive fine arts procedures and operate structurally close to galleries, while others are more in favor of discourse and are built around an artist community and special shared interests. And then others are more culturally driven or closer to entertainment and partying. They differ immensely in scale, infrastructure, personnel, and ambition. And they all have their own agenda; at the same time, they (mostly all) compete for the same funding from the city, the canton, and other private supporters. And the funding—despite what one might assume after hearing “Zurich” and “Switzerland”—is not an easy task for the independent art scene. For a rather small but rich city like Zurich with a population of 400,000 residents, one can find a large, vibrant art scene with over forty officially registered project spaces, and art initiatives and over twenty-five other projects without a regular space.1 Those who are part of this independent scene often know each other well; some projects collaborate in specific instances, enriching the cultural life of Zurich tremendously. Yet, all of them compete for a very small contemporary art budget, which has stagnated for years. And then there are the big institutions, like Kunsthaus, Kunsthalle, and Haus Konstruktiv, which are extremely well funded. Of course, the overall cultural sector is, in comparison with other city departments, not overfunded at all, especially if one takes into consideration that the creative industry—which profits from the indepen- dent and wild open art scene indirectly—is an enormously important business sector in Switzerland. We would also like to think about the situation from a more theoretical perspective: the notion of “dark matter” was applied to the arts by Gregory Sholette, who laments 4 Issue 48 / September 2020 Editorial Zurich Issue: Dark Matter, Grey Zones, Red Light, and Bling Bling www.zurichartspaceguide.ch. Courtesy of Andreas Marti, Design by Badesaison, badesaison.ch that a vast majority of artists are ignored by critics and that this broader creative culture feeds the mainstream