Wohin mit der Skulptur?

Art dis-location

Can a sculpture be dislocated? What is the role of the work’s spatial context? What is society’s responsibility toward art in public? And how great is the loss of identity at its removal?

These and other relevant topics were studied by Zurich’s KiöR (Art in Public Space) think-tank when the square in front of the Kunsthaus Zürich was redesigned, and the existence of the sculpture installed there was fundamentally questioned. After much debate, the monumental concrete oeuvre of the Swiss sculptor Robert Müller, “Fanfare,” was finally removed in the summer of 2010 and re-installed in Langenthal. This publication puts the example of the dislocation of Fanfare in a broader context by highlighting the historical, aesthetic, social, and cultural conditions of the displacement of artworks. Historical examples and statements by experts, as well as a photographic essay, reflect on the relationship between site and art, as well as on the changes in the context of art production.

Edited by Christoph Doswald for the City of Zurich’s Arbeitsgruppe Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (AG KiöR) series, this book includes texts and statements by Paul Ardenne, Bettina Burkhardt, Christoph Doswald, Roger Fayet, Bernadette Fülscher, Bob Gramsma, Regine Helbling, Thomas Multerer, Peter Studer, and Brigitte Ulmer.

Published with the City of Zurich.