passages Strange Bedfellows Culture and Politics in Conversation Art in the Township: A Festival for Brenda Fassie p. 6 In the Shadow of the Pyramids: Swiss Art from Cairo p. 42 The 0.02692308-Gram Novel: Light Reading Courtesy of the E-Book p. 45 THE CULTURAL MAGAZINE OF PRO HELVETIA, NO. 50/2009 CONTENTS 12 – 39 Dossier: STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: CULTURE AND POLITICS IN CONVERSATION 3 EDITORIAL 40 LOCAL TIME What Price Culture? Rome: “An exhausting paradise” Janine Messerli Roman Arens 4 PRO HELVETIA NEWSFLASH Cairo: Egypt in the Alps Pro Helvetia > start > play Claudia Spinelli Lucerne Festival Orchestra Goes East 43 PARTNER PROFILE Echoes of Echoes 14 How Free Is Autonomous? Swiss Films: “Short films attract Bridge to the Caucasus Pius Knüsel a new, young audience to Swiss cinema” 6 REPORTAGE 18 A Cultural Fun Fair Felizitas Ammann Brenda Fassie for a Day Marc-Olivier Gonseth inter- Judith Reker (text) viewed by Mireille Descombes 44 IMPRESSUM Alexia Webster (photos) PASSAGES ONLINE 19 Ménage – Culture and Politics in NEXT ISSUE 11 CULTURE BEAT Conversation Artistic Licence – To Do What? Pro Helvetia’s new programme 45 VIEWPOINT Thomas Steinfeld Literature lite 22 “If everything were up to Monica Cantieni the market, only mainstream culture would survive.” 46 GALLERY Young Swiss National Council- A Showcase for Artists lors discuss cultural policy. “At the Binz Squat in Zurich” by Ingo Giezendanner 27 If I Were Minister of Culture… What would Swiss cultural policy be like if the artists were put in charge? Four Swiss artists share their views. 27 Culture Concept Franz Hohler 28 Through a Glass Brightly Vanni Bianconi 29 “Culture is a commodity like any other” Arnaud Robert in conversation with Stress 30 Every Baby Born Collage by Pipilotti Rist 32 Art, the State, and Protecting the Citizen Caroline Kesser The visual art featured in this issue 36 Subsistence Artists Outnumber presents the work of artists recently Cover: High Rollers making their début in a Pro Helvetia Francisco Sierra, “L’Artiste”, 2008, from his “Cahier d’Artiste” (artist monograph): Facebook series Beat Grossrieder Francisco Sierra, Laurence Bonvin, Collection Cahiers d’Artistes 2009 Marianne Engel and Tom Huber. 2 EDITORIAL What Price Culture? Where is Swiss cultural policy headed? How much say do artists have in shaping it? And what value is culture accorded in Swiss society? As the country considers its first-ever national law on the promotion of culture, Passages weighs into the debate by polling young parliamen- tarians for their views on Swiss cultural policy (p. 22) and inviting art- ists to share their thoughts and visions in the form that suits them best. You can find contributions by authors Franz Hohler and Vanni Bianconi, video artist Pipilotti Rist and Stress, the Swiss rapper, on pages 29 – 33. Whenever politics and culture intersect, the question of artistic freedom is sure to stir up controversy. Indeed, a cursory glance at the last hundred years shows that, from Hodler to Hirschhorn, Swiss art has continuously faced censorship, with religion, morals and national symbols as the main stumbling blocks (p. 32) – particularly when state subsidies for art are at issue. Which brings us to the second most fre- quent cause for disagreement in discussions of cultural policy: money. What kind of art merits state support? And why? There is no consensus on these questions, whether among politicians or in the art world. Pius Knüsel, Director of Pro Helvetia, notes a fundamental change in the relationship between politics and culture, what with four dec- ades of systematic support fostering art that is today more diverse, more individualistic and less political. At the same time, although there are no dictates upon its content, Swiss art is once again being deployed in the service of the nation, helping to brand Switzerland in areas such as commerce, tourism and international relations. All of which means new challenges for promoters of culture (p. 14). On 5 September Pro Helvetia will launch a new programme, Ménage – Culture and Politics in Conversation (p. 19), a platform for public debate around the proposed new law on culture. In collaboration with museums as well as with cantonal and municipal partners, Ménage will analyse the relationship between culture and politics, with examples drawn from crises past and present. Join the discussion! Janine Messerli Managing Editor, Passages 3 PRO HELVETIA NEWSFLASH ence a look behind the scenes of computer Pro Helvetia and video games. With the support of the Lucerne Festival Federal Office of Culture, two surveys have been carried out among profession- > start > play als working with computer and video Orchestra games, according to which Switzerland may be technologically advanced when it Goes East comes to digital creativity, but lacks broader professional networks in the field. Are computer games schlock or art? Pro Helvetia is planning a 2010 exhibition Are they the end-product of an act of ar- on computer games from economic, polit- tistic composition, or do they merely fol- ical and social perspectives, with public low what the market demands? In either discussions to foster networking among case, they have become essential to the the various participants in the field. At an everyday culture of a large audience. initial panel discussion at the Neuchâtel And the market is booming: along with Inter national Fantastic Film Festival the cinema, gaming is one of the best- in July, specialists in motion graphics and selling branches of the culture industry. game design discussed socio-economic Game producers employ a wide range of issues and cultural policy with promoters artists, from designers and screenplay of culture. A second conference will writers to composers. The video-game take place in Baden on 11 September at aesthetic is intimately linked to the fine Fantoche 09, the international show Young star Yuja Wang will arts and the performing arts and has by of animation film. For more information, be on tour with the Lucerne now begun to influence other cultural see www.fantoche.ch and Festival Orchestra. sectors as well. Video and computer www.prohelvetia.ch/programme. games use the most innovative methods The Lucerne Festival Orchestra is and give rise to new cultural technolo- on tour in China from 20 to 25 Septem- gies as they teach people to handle the ber. The world-renowned company will increasingly complex interface between perform six concerts in Beijing’s new machine and human user playfully. National Centre for the Performing Pro Helvetia has resolved to break Arts. The programme focuses on Gustav new digital ground, with a programme Mahler, as at the Lucerne Festival in on Game Culture that offers a wide audi- Summer, and features two Chinese guests: pianist Yuja Wang and compos- er/conductor Tan Dun. Yuja Wang, at the age of 22 already famous in her native country, made her début at six- teen with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich and opened the Lucerne Festival this year as a soloist (with Claudio Abbado conducting); she will join the Festival Orchestra in China in per- forming Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto Number Three. Tan Dun, who received an Oscar for his soundtrack for Crouch- ing Tiger, Hidden Dragon and has been a guest composer with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, will conduct the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s core en- semble. As a long-time partner of the Lucerne Festival in Summer, Pro Helvetia has offered the orchestra its Chinese cultural connections for the Still from the award-winning Swiss computer game duration of the tour. More information FEIST www.playfeist.net is available at www.lucernefestival.ch and www.prohelvetia.cn. Photos: Felix Broede (above left), Hannes Zaugg-Graf (above right), Ana Lomsaridze Arter (below right) 4 Echoes, Pro Helvetia’s forum on more than simply regional appeal, and Echoes of folk culture of the 21st century, contin- should foster exchange among Swiss ues to reverberate. Together with nu- language areas or with the international merous cantonal and municipal part- community. This spring, for example, Echoes ners, the Swiss Arts Council organized a Pro Helvetia helped the Choeur des Ar- series of projects between 2006 and maillis de la Gruyère, a choir from the 2008 – showcasing practices such as French-speaking part of Switzerland, choral song, amateur theatre, architec- attend the international festival of cho- ture and traditional costumes – and in- ral music in New York, where it present- tensified its co-operation with folk cul- ed an evening of traditional Swiss ture associations. The programme music. The Arts Council also supported culminated in the presentation of new the Schweizerische Biennale des Ama- guidelines for the promotion of folk cul- teurtheaters (Swiss biennial of amateur ture, and a publication outlining the theatre) in Vulpera, which is organized Arts Council’s criteria for supporting jointly by the folk theatre associations of folk culture projects is now available. the four linguistic regions and stages Pro Helvetia thus finds itself in a selected amateur productions from broad new field of endeavour, for which across the country. To order Pro Helve- it intends to apply the same high stand- tia’s guidelines for the promotion of folk ards and strict selection criteria as in culture, please see www.prohelvetia.ch other areas. When it comes to folk cul- ture, virtuosity (as evinced among other Pro Helvetia now also supports festivals of folk culture, such as the things by the number and quality of Biennale des Amateurtheaters. prizes obtained, as well as performances at well-respected events) is a decisive cri- terion. Projects must also demonstrate Bridge to the Caucasus In the Caucasus, where political dif- Gyumri, and concerts featuring the Swiss ferences have been tearing countries apart ensembles aequatuor and pre-art soloists.