The KUB Museum, Kunsthaus Bregenz, designed by Peter Zumthor, features an exceptional exhibition to celebrate its twenty years of existence. For the anniversary he has invited Peter Zumthor to stage an atypical exhibition, unlike any other. The architect has decided to show the elements that have inspired his work occupying the museum with different activities and thematic areas.
The exhibition becomes a double homage, to the museum and to the architect who created it, Peter Zumthor in the KUB.
 
Thinking is line, emotion space.
I love thinking in images.
Being able to create spaces that have an impact,
as certain passages in the music of Mahler or Wagner do,
composed by Schoenberg or Webern’s means,
with the energy and transparency of Stravinsky ­– that would be wonderful.
But now it’s time for a festival!

Text by Thomas D. Trummer
 

»Music is being be performed, authors are reading, drinks are being served, pictures exhibited, and a library assembled, films are being screened, a music box installed, and plants made to flourish. Over 160 live events are due to take place during the period of the exhibition.«

Kunsthaus Bregenz is a distinctive place. Its atmosphere increases awareness, opening the eyes, ears, and pores. For its anniversary year – KUB is now 20 years old – Kunsthaus Bregenz’s renowned architect Peter Zumthor has been invited to stage an exhibition. The Pritzker prizewinning architect has decided to dispense with any kind of traditional exhibition, instead creating spaces, receptacles for thinking, displaying, and listening, for the artistic ventures he cherishes and that have inspired him: Dear to Me.

The musical program is being curated by the musician Peter Conradin Zumthor, readings are being organized by literature expert Brigitte Labs-Ehlert, and a film directed by Swiss filmmaker Christoph Schaub. In addition Peter Zumthor is inviting guests to discussions. Each Sunday morning he will be interviewing people whose work has inspired him. Dates for all the events can be found in our program booklet which is being published in time for the beginning of the exhibition.

KUB’s spaces will be reflecting their own use. On the ground floor a Bösendorfer grand piano is being installed in the middle of the space. A black canopy has been suspended above the flat platform of the stage, serving as both a space divider and soundproofing. The geometric paneling on the walls fulfills a similar function whilst simultaneously acting as abstract color field paintings. When no event is in progress the stage space will serve as a lounge and lobby, for which Peter Zumthor has designed chairs and stools. A bar area has also been constructed. A film is being screened on monitors, showing interviews and archival material relating to Zumthor’s architectural work.

The first floor foregoes any redesign of the interior. The building ¬– Zumthor’s real work – is particularly prominent here: its famous daylight ceiling, the reflective terrazzo, and the velvety stone shell of the walls. The Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth (b. 1968) has been asked by Peter Conradin Zumthor to compose a new work for a music box, its punch card tape winding up to the ceiling. The walls display works by the photographer Hélène Binet (b. 1959). Binet is a photographer from Ticino who has been linked to  Kunsthaus Bregenz from the very beginning, already photographing it at its opening in 1997. Peter Zumthor has invited her to show a series of pictures recording subjects from the Acropolis in Athens. One of Peter Zumthor’s favorite architects is Dimitris Pikionis (1887-1968). The Greek landscape architect designed the paving on the ancient Temple Mount which Binet has captured photographically: the paths and vegetation, stones and temples in silvery shadows and calm sensual elegance.

The second floor is a thicket of walls. Shelves obstruct views and walkways, book shelving creating a helical labyrinth around an open central space, a literary atrium. Chairs by horgenglarus, Switzerland’s oldest furniture manufacturer, have been situated throughout the installation. It is a library offering space for both public reading and private study. About 40,000 books have been brought from Chur to Bregenz especially for the occasion.

The uppermost floor houses a garden. The artist couple Gerda Steiner (b. 1967) and Jörg Lenzlinger (b. 1964) are presenting a fantastical space. Delicate plants from various materials dangle as mobiles from the light-filled ceiling, branches grow upwards, stones from Bregenzerwald offer space for relaxation, and tea is being served. The soft light traces gracefully graphic shadows. On some of the walls vines, garlands, and even crystals grow. The space is a colorful tropical house, an image of nature and an artificial landscape.

Thomas D. Trummer

More information

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Venue
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KUB. Karl-Tizian-Platz, Postfach 45. 6900 Bregenz. Austria
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Dates
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16.09>07.01.2018
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Peter Zumthor was born on April 26, 1943, the son of a cabinet maker, Oscar Zumthor, in Basel, Switzerland. He trained as a cabinet maker from 1958 to 1962. From 1963-67, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vorkurs and Fachklasse with further studies in design at Pratt Institute in New York.

In 1967, he was employed by the Canton of Graubünden (Switzerland) in the Department for the Preservation of Monuments working as a building and planning consultant and architectural analyst of historical villages, in addition to realizing some restorations. He established his own practice in 1979 in Haldenstein, Switzerland where he still works with a small staff of fifteen. Zumthor is married to Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad. They have three children, all adults, Anna Katharina, Peter Conradin, and Jon Paulin, and two grandchildren.

Since 1996, he has been a professor at the Academy of Architecture, Universitá della Svizzera Italiana, Mendrisio. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Southern California Institute of Architecture and SCI-ARC in Los Angeles in 1988; at the Technische Universität, Munich in 1989; and at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University in 1999.

His many awards include the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association in 2008 as well as the Carlsberg Architecture Prize in Denmark in 1998, and the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. In 2006, he received the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia. The American Academy of Arts and Letters bestowed the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture in 2008.

In the recent book published by Barrons Educational Series, Inc. titled, Architectura, Elements of Architectural Style, with the distinguished architectural historian from Australia, Professor Miles Lewis, as general editor, the Zumthor’s Thermal Bath building at Vals is described as “a superb example of simple detailing that is used to create highly atmospheric spaces. The design contrasts cool, gray stone walls with the warmth of bronze railings, and light and water are employed to sculpt the spaces. The horizontal joints of the stonework mimic the horizontal lines of the water, and there is a subtle change in the texture of the stone at the waterline. Skylights inserted into narrow slots in the ceiling create a dramatic line of light that accentuates the fluidity of the water. Every detail of the building thus reinforces the importance of the bath on a variety of levels.”

In the book titled Thinking Architecture, first published by Birkhauser in 1998, Zumthor set down in his own words a philosophy of architecture. One sample of his thoughts is as follows: “I believe that architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings, and speak its own language. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can.”

Read more
Published on: September 23, 2017
Cite: "Peter Zumthor. Dear to Me, in KUB. An Exceptional Exhibition" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/peter-zumthor-dear-me-kub-exceptional-exhibition> ISSN 1139-6415
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