Ann Cotten - Böcker

For three months Biel, Switzerland, hosted a special kind of sculpture. It was special not simply because it was by one of Switzerland’s most famous contemporary artists—Thomas Hirschhorn—and dedicated to one of the most prominent authors in the history of Swiss literature, Robert Walser. Beyond that, this sculpture was a redefinition of sculpture itself, because what takes on a plastic form here is not made of stone, steel, or bronze. It is society itself that helped to develop this work of art. In 2016 Thomas Hirschhorn and the curator Kathleen Bühler began doing field research in Biel, the city of Robert Walser’s birth, connecting with residents, clubs, artists, literati, and experts. This resulted in a multifaceted agenda. Every day the two offered events such as readings, walking tours, lectures, and children’s activities. All of this ultimately comprised the Robert Walser-Sculpture. Never before has an entire city been integrated into a temporary work of art in this way.

Urban musingsThe publication is dedicated to Paul Hutchinson’s photographic work from the years 2019–2024. His images allude to questions of class, moments of fragility and roughness, and a city articulating itself through writings on walls. Remnants refers both to a series of abstract works created by the removal of graffiti from subway cars, and it refers to the heightened sense of change in today’s society, the increasing social tensions, and Hutchinson’s personal reflections, which are informed by these larger concerns.