Max Bill is one of Switzerland’s foremost artists, having left a legacy of many industrial sculptures.

His arrangement of 45 blocks of granite near Paradeplatz in Zurich (above)  has always been a landmark for me, although it was only recently that I discovered the plaque on the nearby wall tellîng me who the artist was.

Then things began to fall into place, as I was living near Max Bill platz (see below) in Oerlikon at the time and had no idea who or what Max Bill was.

Now there is an exhibition of his work in the electricity building near Selnau station in Zurich.

The marketing bods aren’t missing a trick here “… Bill’s energy reached out to the whole world”. Really? How come I hadn’t heard of him then?

The exhibition; Haus Konstruktiv, starts today and runs until 22 March 2009. Admission would appear to be CHF 14.

www.hauskonstruktiv.ch

Photos: Flickr mmechtley El Romano

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

The Rote Fabrik (Literally: Red Factory, not fabric) is an entertaining place down on the Wollishofen side of lake Zurich.

It used to be a factory, and is, er, red. Well it’s made of red bricks, but pretty much all of it is covered in graffiti now.

It operates as a club, a bar and restaurant, and also as a concert venue. Not to mention cinema and theatre. Theater if you prefer.

It’s a politically correct sort of place, and has lots of informational events relating to the mistreatment of minority (or majority) groups in far-flung places. But you don’t have to get involved in that and they really don’t mind. Live and let live. That sort of thing. 

It’s by no means posh, so you don’t want to be wearing clothes that you object to getting grubby.

Last time I went, a friend turned up in a white coat.  Not that sort of white coat, if you’re thinking of those scary people in films that work in psychological institutions – I’m not that far gone yet. No, it was just a nice white coat. What was she thinking?

It’s lovely out the back  in summer, there are plenty of tables outside, and ideal place for watching the boats go by. Schiffliluege – as a colleague in the office calls it.

Food is reasonably priced, a good range of drinks too. Tables are simple, and as I said graffiti everywhere.

So if you fancy feeling like an art student for an hour or two, why not pop down to the red factory?

Photo: Flickr pichenette

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

After a period of inactivity, during which contractual stuff between the nice people at b5media and Switzerland have been sorted out, The Switzerland Traveler is back in business.

Rather than opt for a picture of snow falling last week, here’s a poster celebrating the graphic prowess of Switzerland’s designers. 

I dare say most of you will be pre-occupied by the elections over the next few days, but don’t forget to come back soon for a small dose of calm and natural beauty.

And if you have any requests for information, please let me know.

Picture: Flickr Network Osaka

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

I’ve always been a bit of a fan of The Prisioner, a cult 1960’s UK TV series.

One of the stars was “Rover” a blob of an automated policeman that wandered round “The Village” keeping an eye on the inmates.

And, er, well this picture, taken in Lausanne – in the French speaking part of Switzerland,  reminded me of that.

Thought you’d like to know!

Photo Flickr wasabi design

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

There’s an exhibition of the works of Fernand Léger at the Beyeler Foundation in Basel at the moment.

Léger was a famous French Artist of great significance to the American Pop Art movement. See also Europop for other European influences on the genre.

Many of the works feature recurring themes, such as groups of figures and the holding of flowers, see above.

In order to shed light on how American art was influenced by Léger, there are also a series of works by artists such as Lichtenstein and Warhol.

The exhibition starts with his Cubist period, and I must confess to not loving this as much as some of the later, industrial and big-city work.

The exhibition is well worth a trip, and the building itself simply fabulous. Don’t miss the Monet Water Lilies, displayed in a room with a lily pond running up to the floor to ceiling window. Magic.

The exhibition runs until September 7 2008.

www.beyeler.com

Photo Flickr jasalinas

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Another Appenzell building today, hosting the works of Carl Liner and his son.

The museum was designed by Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer, Zürich.

Photo: Flickr numstead

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Do you love your bike?

Enough to sleep with it?

Well, at the Lofthotel near the Walensee, the hotel rooms (or at least some of them) allow direct acces with a motorbike directly into the room.

Obviously you’ll not be expecting deep-pile carpet on the floor, instead it’s shiny wood, but you will certainly get to wake up with the fresh smell of your chosen lubricant. I’m assuming that bikes still leak oil like they used to when I was a lad…

Of course, there wouldn’t be much point in going if the area wasn’t interesting, but the hotel is at Murg, very near the Walensee, a fascinating lake, with the Toggenburg range of mountains nearby.

Biker lofts are around 130 CHF/person/night including breakfast. See the website for four day packages including dinner etc.

And culture need not be omitted, the gallery has exhibitions, currently from three artists.

It’s about an hour by car from Zürich, and trains are easy too. But you’ll be going on a bike, won’t you?

Thanks to Mary Jo at http://www.flyawaycafe.com/ and http://www.theseattletraveler.com/ for pointing this one out to me.

Photo and further info: http://www.lofthotel.ch/lofthotel/index.php

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

I don’t know why, but I really like this. OK, the photoshopping could be a bit neater, but what the heck?

A classic work of art, with an EM interpretation.

I wonder if Rodin’s model was contemplating his country being knocked out of a major football tournament?

The conventional wisdom is that Rodin was depicting the poet Dante contemplating his fate in front of the gates of hell, but having seen some of the sad faces round here after the Turkey match, I’m not so sure.

Still, at least we did better than Austria, our co-hosts. That seems to be the main reaction now.

And by the way, there is a Zurich connection for this post. The Gates of Hell, by M. Rodin is a large bronze sculpture, one cast of which stands outside the Kunsthaus and is well worth seeing. Closure. Geddit?

Photos: Flickr – wok111 xcaballe

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Walking back through the main station on Friday night, I saw some workemen putting the finishing touches to an amazing installation.

To celebrate (once more) the EM, there is a group of footballers in national kit huddled together. It’s difficult to work out what scale the players are modelled in but they are big. Really big!

You can see from the photo how large the players boots are.

 It’s an amazing piece of art to be able to walk around…

Photo Flickr – Dom Dada

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Artosa. Art, in Arosa – brilliant!

15 international artists are exhibiting sculptures in the open air: in the pastures and meadows around Arosa.

There are also great natural sights to see, such as the reservoir shown above.

The Hotel Sorell is offering rooms in Arosa from CHF 90 per person/night for the summer period, 14 Jun – 28 September.

So you can indulge a taste for nature, art and fresh air, at a reasonable price.

Sounds good to me…

Arosa Tourism
Poststrasse
Postfach 90
7050 Arosa
Tel. +41 (0)81 378 70 20

Photo Flickr – keiko

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler