Art projects in our properties
We consider “the highest standard of living” also to include inspiration for the soul and spirit. Works by renowned artists carefully chosen to match the architecture can therefore be seen in our properties. We are pleased to present some exciting projects to you here.
Ruedi Frey
Florastrasse 28 and 30
Having grown up with a black and white television, discovered his passion for and taught himself photography at an early age and also completed a PhD in biology, Ruedi Frey has always been interested in the chaos, disorder and order of nature. In his project Art in architecture, Florastrasse 28 and 30, he concentrates on the way the light plays on Lake Zurich. The two pictures “Gold” and “Silver” reflect the momentum of light and water. The iridescent patterns of a tempestuous lake reveal to the observer the true “treasure in Lake Zurich”.
James Licini
Rotachstrasse 35
Licini builds with steel. However, he alienates it from its original purpose and in doing so creates a world without function. But it is precisely by way of this autonomous form that he is also able to define what he calls its “dignity”. His gaze is always directed – in his memory and after having made many journeys – towards the buildings of the Aztecs and Mayans.
Lukas Wassmann
Münchhaldenstrasse 15
After completing a carpentry apprenticeship, Lukas Wassmann from Zurich assisted various photographers in Milan, Zurich and New York. He attended schools of photography and today works for international magazines such as ID, New York Times Style Magazine and Zeit Magazin.
Hideki Iinuma
Seefeldstrasse 75
Urs Ledermann, himself a big lover of art, ceremoniously unveiled the figure engraved in camphor wood of Japanese artist Hideki Iinuma before an audience of invited guests on 3 July 2012. It stands immediately in the entrance area of the residential building and is intended to please, provoke and stimulate thought.
With his figures cut in wood, the artist focuses on border areas between western and eastern culture that are shaped by both contrasts and similarities. There is a long tradition of figurative wood sculpture in both Europe and Japan that already experienced its first heyday in the seventh century.
Gallery
Seefeldstrasse 204
According to the old layouts of the rooms adjoining the building at number 202, there once used to be a wall that originally served to make crooked rooms straight. The architects thought it would be better to have a crooked room offering more floor space and had the wall removed. The result was astonishing: The fire wall of the adjacent house was covered across all five storeys by a façade mural typical of the time.
Intensive research revealed that this was an old Hero mural that was probably painted by the former owner, a master painter. The builders decided to leave it as it was, have it fortified and stabilise the colours.
Max Zuber
Wildbachstrasse 55, 57 and 59
Much creativity was displayed by artist Max Zuber who was commissioned with the design of the stair railings. Max Zuber’s fascinating unique specimen made of bronze, the so-called water staircase, blends in well with the Wildbachgut and its surroundings.
“Water flows from the source around the square, trickles into a spiral, swirls and splits into a rectangle, unites to form a wild stream flowing into the earth, waters the seeds and awakens the shoots to new life: the eternal cycle.”
Christian Herdeg
Wildbachstrasse 55, 57 and 59
Light artist Christian Herdeg designed the stairwell of the Wildbachgut in a unique manner. Illuminants such as argon, neon and LEDs were used to create the most diverse range of static and dynamic light objects and installations.
Max Zuber
Razzia / Mainaustrasse 34
The glass fragments that froze to create an artistic explosion in the Mainau building are nothing more than the shattered remains of Sottsass vases. When a wall collapsed during the conversion of a property in Zurich-Seefeld, the rubble happened to fall into a warehouse of gallery owner Bruno Bischofberger who was the owner of the valuable rare specimens. Building owner Urs Ledermann had no choice but to buy the remains of the vases from the gallery owner he was friends with – at a low six-figure sum, it should be added. But if the fragments had been so expensive, they should at least bring some happiness – and that is how Max Zuber came to be commissioned to use them to create a relief for the Mainau building. The result is a kind of florally decorated spaceship that could be inhabited by extraterrestrial hippies. The sculpture lends the cool Art Déco style of the stairwell an urban flair.
Ceiling medallion and wheel of life
Razzia / Mainaustrasse 34
The ceiling medallion shows twelve figures, allegories of the twelve months, that are arranged radially and portrayed marching along the circumference, alternately a woman and a man.
Artemis – patron goddess of the cinema
Razzia / Mainaustrasse 34
Iconography of the wall and ceiling paintings at Seefeld Cinema.
Metzler sculpture
Seefeldstrasse 110
About the property
Müller Tauscher – The four seasons
Arbenzstrasse 6
Four floors, four seasons. Müller Tauscher picked different elements from round the city of Zurich and the beautiful Zürisee, Müller Tauscher and compressed them to one season. Collage painting and 3D wood elements connect the seasons and the floors.
MÜLLER TAUSCHER
SEEFELDSTRASSE 110
The eight wall paintings by Müller Tauscher are located in the stairwell and in the parking garage. Each of the works breaks through the predominant concrete gray with strong colors and is intended to motivate the residents of the Seefeldstrasse 110 property to take the stairs instead of the lift.
Formally, the color and shape within the floors flow into each other and combine DADA with pop art, collage, stencil engravings and small objects. Contemporary themes, Zurich’s prominence, and the city itself were the focus. Müller Tauscher illuminates the Limmatstadt from a special angle and suggests less laziness as well as a “Sprüngli in the Zürisee”.
Photographer: Simon Maissen
