Traits of a Square AAA, Art Altstetten Albisrieden, KiÖR, Altstetterplatz, Zürich
It is almost impossible to escape this work. The colour intensity and the quantity of lines occupy the square in front of Zurich’s Altstetten railway station in a manner that is unavoidable and lend it a new character. Perhaps this intervention by Pascal (b. 1973, Switzerland) Häusermann is an imposition – an imposition on the part of art, which is usually met with indifference during everyday life. Many passers-by use headphones, smartphones and sunglasses to filter down the semiotics of the city to a level that they can cope with. This method is unlikely to succeed with Traits of a Square, due to its abundance of signs alone. It is probably also an imposition for those who walk through this square daily, following their practiced routes in such a way as to cross it in the most timesaving manner possible. Although no obstacles stand in their way, misguidance does occur. Imagine if the flows of commuters were to change their walking behaviour according to the pattern spread out before them. Häusermann’s libretto of lines would open up new paths: quick ones, slow ones, wrong ones and detours. The well-dressed ladies and gentlemen would be removed from their everyday choreography. Art’s invasion of the routine of everyday life and reinterpretation of everyday life: in a city like Zurich, this is a gamble, because the public space is a thoroughfare that is efficiently managed and organised for optimal usage. The inspiration for this geometric structure, which offers escape routes, detours and wrong ways for the duration of a summer, was a nautical chart by Johannes van Keulen, which enabled maritime trade with Brazil in the 18th century. This cartographic pattern is combined with a Moroccan type of ornamentation produced by the French-researcher Jules Bourgoin in the 19th century. With Traits of a Square, Pascal Häusermann unites both patterns to create a distinct type of map that demonstrates the characteristics and features of the square. He thus continues with his interest in structures, which, in the past, he already developed in Paris via the metro map and in city walks. He harks back to methods proposed by the situationists in the 1950s and 1960s for investigating the urban nature of a city. With their “dérives”, translated into English as “digressions”, they wanted to lose themselves in a city’s streets and buildings, and thus to reappropriate the urban space and the familiar. Let us hope that the people at Altstetterplatz spend a summer losing themselves in Pascal Häusermann’s artwork, so as to discover what their own everyday life actually is.
Stefan Wagner
Links
https://kunstbestand.stadt-zuerich.ch/de/collection/item/61115/