The accompanying program was expanded through an open call and invitations – an opportunity for other cultural workers and members of the neighborhood to position themselves and contribute their own works.
By using a vacant housing estate as an exhibition space, the project raised questions about the visibility and accessibility of art: What did it mean when artists claimed space for themselves instead of waiting for institutions to provide it? How did the perception of art change when it took place in spaces where people had once lived?
The exhibition questioned the supposed neutrality of the relationships between artist, viewer, and institution by making visible the conditions under which art was presented, viewed, and mediated. Art is often shown in institutional contexts – in museums, galleries, or curated off-spaces with clear hierarchies and selection processes. By using a vacant housing estate as an exhibition venue, we bypassed these structures and created a space not defined by institutional guidelines. This opened a space for reflection: What did it mean when artists claimed space for themselves instead of waiting for institutions to provide it?
Institutions usually determine what is considered relevant art, which works are shown, and which audiences they reach. By relocating the exhibition into a domestic setting, we removed art from this established order and broke down the invisible separation between artwork and viewer.
At the same time, our exhibition could be understood as an impulse for an expanded perspective on urban transformation. In a city like Zurich, where pressure on housing and cultural spaces is constantly increasing, our project demonstrated the potential of using even the shortest vacancies – whether just a few weeks or months – as temporary cultural venues. By activating spaces before they disappeared or were repurposed, we showed that art need not be integrated into urban development processes only in retrospect, but could instead insert itself flexibly and spontaneously into existing structures.
With our project, we stood for a generation of young artists who must assert themselves in an environment of constant change, high demands, and an increasingly inaccessible real estate market. We wanted to inspire the re-imagining of diverse spaces for culture – even if only for a short time – and to encourage a new way of engaging with urban space and temporary art.
Artists involved: David Dragan, Oana Popa, Xenia Landolf, Ricardo Meli, Duarte Perry, Ramon Iten, Stefani Sedloska, Lea Widmer,Ilaria Rabagliati and Rebeka Mondovics, Lily Pellaud, Hanil Jeong, Oroboros, Talkback Heads, zwischentext
Supported by the City and Canton of Zürich
documentation by
Oliver Kümmerli and
Jennifer Anger
Stories of Those Left Behind
Stories of Those Left Behind resists the notion of a world divided into the realms of the living and the dead, into life as being in the world versus non-life as non-existence. It approaches places of refuge on an unexcited backstage that takes care of what we are left with when left behind.
with Simone Aughterlony & Jen Rosenblit, Sabian Baumann, Bo Choy, Sarah Doerfel, Jassem Hindi & Sina Seifee, Enad Marouf, Salty Xi Jie Ng, Teresa Vittucci, Undead Matter
curated by Lucie Tuma