Philipp Kaiser – författare

Harald Szeemann is associated with some of the most important artistic developments of the postwar era. A passionateadvocate of avant-garde movements like conceptualism and post minimalism, he collaborated with artists such as JosephBeuys, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, and Cy Twombly, developing new ways of presenting art that reflected hissweeping vision of contemporary culture.Szeemann once stated that his goal as an exhibition maker was to create a "Museum of Obsessions." This richlyillustrated volume is a virtual collection catalogue for that imaginary institution, tracing the evolution of his curatorialmethod through the materials he collected and produced while researching and organising his exhibitions, includingletters, drawings, personal datebooks, installation plans, artists' books, posters, photographs, and handwritten notes.This book documents all phases of Szeemann's career, from his early stint as director of the Kunsthalle Bern, where heorganized the seminal Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form (1969); to documenta 5 (1972) and the intenselypersonal exhibition he staged in his own apartment using the belongings of his hairdresser grandfather (1974); to hisreinvention as a freelance curator who realised projects on wide-ranging themes until his death in 2005.The book contains essays exploring Szeemann's curatorial approach as well as interviews with collaborators. Its morethan 350 illustrations include previously unpublished installation photographs and exhibition documents as well as manyother materials from the curator's archive.

Die Publikation präsentiert das über dreißigjährige kuratorische Schaffen von Bernhard Mendes Bürgi. Der Fokus liegt auf einem typografisch großzügig gestalteten Verzeichnis aller 110 Ausstellungen, die Bürgi insbesondere als Direktor der Kunsthalle Zürich und des Kunstmuseums Basel verantwortete. Ergänzt wird es durch zahlreiche Installationsansichten. Ein ausführliches Gespräch mit Philipp Kaiser erhellt Bürgis kuratorische Leitideen und kontextualisiert sie im jeweiligen Zeitgeschehen. Dabei wird der besondere Stellenwert der «idealen Einzelausstellung» ersichtlich, die stets aufs Neue aus einer engen Zusammenarbeit mit der jeweiligen Künstlerin, dem jeweiligen Künstler hervorgeht.

The publication concentrates on Bernhard Mendes Bürgi''s more than thirty years of curatorial work. The focus is on a typographically generously designed list of all 110 exhibitions that Bürgi has been responsible for, particularly as director of the Kunsthalle Zürich and the Kunstmuseum Basel, accompanied by many installation views. A detailed discussion with Philipp Kaiser sheds light on the curatorial guidelines, which are contextualized in current events. The special significance of the "ideal solo exhibition," which always emerges anew from a close collaboration with the respective artist, becomes apparent.