Rémy Zaugg: Der besondere Ort / The Particular Place

BUT I / THE WORLD / I SEE YOU

Rémy Zaugg (1943-2005) was an artist of international importance who lived and worked in Basel and Mulhouse. In his own understanding, he was a painter, but he did not limit himself to the production of pictures. Rather, from his painting practice he generated general assumptions for a processual understanding of his work, with which he focussed on spatial, architectural and urban contexts in a new and unusual way. Accordingly, the perceiving human being as a member of society was always at the centre of his considerations - all his aesthetic assumptions led to the emancipatory idea of the "becoming" subject. In addition to his extensive oeuvre of paintings and writings, his activities and projects for and in public space are therefore essential for understanding Rémy Zaugg's special artistic position. The book is dedicated to this socially relevant complex of themes, documenting all of the artist's realised and unrealised projects in this regard and focusing in particular on the following key aspects of his work: museum architecture (especially his collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron), exhibitions with works by other artists, art in public space and his preoccupation with artistic methodology, cooperation and the concept of the work, combining theory and practice. The artist was friends with Herzog & de Meuron and also worked with them on urban planning issues. Jacques Herzog concludes Gerhard Mack's informative interview with the two architects, referring to the space that the two have acquired from Rémy Zaugg for their art collection: "It's simply nice that he is close to us and still has a presence when we are no longer there ourselves. In this respect, it is also a tribute: a place where Rémy is present. At the same time, the room with all its complex history also refers to us and is like a kind of key to our own work."