Website of the “Archiv des Ortes. Sammelstrategien für ein fotografisches Archiv zur Raumentwicklung” (“Archive of Places Collecting Strategies for a Photographic Archive of Spatial Development”) research project by Zurich University of the Arts/IFCAR in collaboration with the Swiss National Library Prints and Drawings Department
Project managers: Ulrich Görlich, Meret Wandeler
The cities and landscapes of Switzerland have undergone profound changes since the 1950s. This project uses two different Swiss cultural spaces – the suburban community of Schlieren in Zurich and the tourist area of Oberengadin near St. Moritz – to investigate how these changes can be documented in photographic form. The key component of the project was comprehensive image research in local inventories which were systematically viewed for the first time. The project examined the archives of construction companies, architectural and planning firms, local businesses, postcard publishers, municipal offices and regional and national press, as well as local cultural-history archives and peoples’s private collections. This image research is comprehensively documented on the website. The results of the project were used to further develop the collection concept for the “Ortsansichten” (“City views”) photo collection at the Swiss National Library Prints and Drawings Department.
Ulrich Görlich, Meret Wandeler: “Auf Gemeindegebiet. Schlieren – Oberengadin. Fotografien zum räumlichen Wandel im Mittelland und in den Alpen seit 1945” (“On common ground: Schlieren – Upper Engandine Photographs of Spatial Development in Suburban Regions and in the Alps since 1945”)
With text contributions by René Hornung, Werner Huber, Christian Schmid and Meret Wandeler
Texts in German and English
176 pages, 240 colour and black and white images
Bound, 24 × 32.5 cm
ISBN 978-3-85881-347-3
Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess, Zürich 2012
This book uses two selected regions – the suburban community of Schlieren in Zurich and the tourist area of Oberengadin near St. Moritz – to demonstrate the profound changes undergone by everyday living environments in Switzerland since the Second World War. Two photo spreads with a total of 240 photographs from the inventories in Schlieren and Oberengadin examined for the “Archiv des Ortes” (“Archive of Places”) research project are displayed one above the other. Rather than showing historically and culturally significant objects or spectacular nature, this previously little known applied photography instead depicts built-up space as it is inhabited and used. Comparing photographs from a suburban community in the Swiss midlands and a tourism region in the Alps reveals a wide variety of references, disparities and parallels between the development of the two areas.
An accompanying essay by Christian Schmid analyses the significance of photographic representation for examining the urbanisation process in Switzerland. In addition, Werner Huber and René Hornung have written brief portraits of the regions. The image section is supplemented by a text by Meret Wandeler on the inventories viewed as part of the research project and on the authors’ work with the image materials.
Website of the “Visuelle und auditive Wahrnehmungsdispositive” (“Visual and auditory perception dispositifs”) research project by Zurich University of the Arts/IFCAR in collaboration with Berlin University of the Arts/Auditory Architecture Research Unit
www.wahrnehmung-agglomeration.ch
Project team: Alex Arteaga, Ulrich Görlich, Rohit Jain, Thomas Kusitzky, Meret Wandeler
Partners: Town of Schlieren Building and Planning Department, Metron AG Department for Spatial Development
In parallel with Zurich University of the Arts/IFCAR’s long-term photographic observation, the AARU at Berlin University of the Arts has been carrying out a long-term auditory observation in Schlieren since 2007. The “Wahrnehmungsdispositive” (“perception dispositifs”) one-year joint research project developed an approach for using photography and sound research to open up the sensual and emotional (i.e. the aesthetic) dimension of urban space in the agglomeration area. This is of fundamental importance for the quality of living environments.
Perception dispositifs are different configurations of photographs and sound recordings which are presented as spatial installations. The process of use – hearing, seeing and speaking about images and sounds – is based on a performative approach and thus considered an integral component of this setting. Structured workshops were organised for the use of dispositifs by the following project partners: Town of Schlieren Building and Planning Department and Metron AG Department for Spatial Development. These workshops offered an opportunity to examine visual and auditory aesthetics, providing a productive enhancement of the functional, goal-oriented approach of everyday planning.
The research project used photographs and sound recordings from the archives of the long-term observations of Schlieren to produce the perception dispositifs. However, the approaches developed during the project can be transferred to other areas without reference to the two long-term observations and can be employed at various levels of planning processes for qualitative analyses of urban and landscape areas.