To Outer Space, to Cyberspace. The online life of obsolete media.

"To Outer Space, to Cyberspace. The online life of obsolete media." I had the pleasure to curate a small online exhibition with a big title for the Museum of Post Digital Cultures. Featuring among many other things  two very different golden records, the photo archive from one of the earliest computer animation labs (previously featured here), the NASA etc., and the whole is sort of dedicated to Laurie Spiegel and Lillian Schwartz. I might add one or two things, and there will be a stream performance on March 4th featuring Synkie, the open source reinvention of an analog modular video synthesizer. 
Click here: http://www.postdigitalcultures.ch/current

Istituto Svizzero di Roma 1970/72

A publication by Swiss artists who had a residency at the Istituto Svizzero, the Swiss Institute in Rome, Italy in 1970/72. A black and white typewriter-set book with added stamps in color.

From top to bottom: Front cover, imprint, two pages by Hans Rudolf Ambauen, excerpt from text and page by René (and Renate?) Eisenegger.

Atelier Etcetera

Various installations made by Swiss group Atelier Etcetera between 1979 and 1983. Atelier Etcetera consisted of Beat Meyer, Franziska Opladen-Oberli and Heinrich Maria "Mirko" Opladen.
Top to bottom:
Dom, Lake Night Festival, Zurich, 1979
Schattenseiten, reopening Berne Art Museum, Berne, 1983
GR-NAGU, Youth Biennial, Paris, 1980
Garnix, Lausanne, 1981
Mobilhome, 3rd Federal Art Exhibition, Montreux, 1981
Sky-Lab II, Schweizerische Plastikausstellung, Biel, 1980

Found in this book:
Igildo G. Biesele, Experiment Design, More creativity through experimental design work - case studies from pratice and training, Zurich 1986
There's more on this book over here (and maybe on this blog as well sometime soon).

the library of Andreas Züst

A book lover's dream weekend.

N. and I stayed for a weekend at the Alpenhof in the Appenzell region in the northeast of Switzerland. A few years ago, the run down hotel was taken over by people from the art and literature scene. It is still a hotel, very nicely renovated with an amazing panoramic view, but also hosts events, exhibitions, lectures - and since 2010, it is the home of the library of Andreas Züst. Andreas Züst (1947-2000) was a "glaciologist, weather watcher, photographer, painter, creature of the night, publisher, film producer, bibliophile, art collector, and patron of the arts", an important figure in the Swiss art scene.  His library contains 12'000 books on topics ranging from art, literature, photography, music, film, meteorology, glaciology, ethnology, space travel, to UFOs and drugs.
After a brief first visit some time ago, I could finally spend a few hours in the library. Here's my meandering, patchy tour through this wonderful collection, with an emphasis on the cover designs.

(I also happen to have grown up  in the village where the Alpenhof is, but long before it became the interesting place it is now.)

There were several books by the Swiss UFO-believers of the FIGU society, previously featured here.

Need a break? Take a look out the window. It was a foggy day, not much to see of the beautiful panoramic view. 

Back to the books then.