RUTH ERDT

It was no coincidence that, in the 1980s, new research into Swiss normality emerged in Schwamendingen, a field covered in all its complexity in the magazine Der Alltag. Sensationsblatt des Gewöhnlichen, (Everyday Life. A Sensational Journal of the Ordinary) founded in the same district. The Schwamendinger Chilbi, a popular fair, is famous throughout Switzerland, as are the rapper Bligg, TV presenter and actress Viola Tami and national footballer Ricardo Rodríguez, all of whom come from K12. The fact that Schwamendingen is now invited into the centre of Zürich at Kunsthalle Zürich can be seen as a triumph, the revenge of the agglomeration or as the normal course of history.

We have the artist Ruth Erdt, who has been photographing Schwamendingen for almost 20 years, to thank for this. She has taken more than 60,000 pictures since 2006, resulting in a long-term study that traces the changes in such a place. It is a research project using the methods of art - and it is a tribute to the people there. Alongside schoolchildren, workers and residents of Schwamendingen, as well as the far-reaching structural interventions, the lively Schwamendingerplatz, public festivals, gardens and the constant of everyday life, Ruth Erdt’s K12 - Schwamendingen also shows the most recent building project: the much-discussed, long-awaited enclosure of the A1 motorway, at a cost of CHF 450 million. Started in March 2019, the project will be completed this year and will, once again, change Schwamendingen significantly.

Erdt’s exhibition is, not least, a reflection on the medium of photography in 5,000 images: photography as a means of documentation; as engaged detective work; photography enabling beauty, honour and self-confidence; as an indictment and a form of activism – and thus as art in the service of society.

The 900-page publication K12 - Schwamendingen, ein Randbezirk von Zürich with over 600 illustrations and contributions by, amongst others, Philipp Klaus, Urs Stahel and the artist herself is published by Steidl Verlag to accompany the exhibition. The book will be on sale at Kunsthalle Zürich on the day of the opening on 27 September at a special price! At the exhibition opening the legendary Bockler Bar from Schwamendingen will also be in situ, featuring OG Pablo.

We are grateful for the support of Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council, Kanton Zürich Fachstelle Kultur/Swisslos, Stiftung Ema und Curt Burgauer and the Baugenossenschaft Süd-Ost Zürich.

The exhibition _K12 - Schwamendingen: On the Periphery of Zürich _was realised with the support of the City of Zürich: Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (Art in Public Space, KiöR) and further develops a photographic study undertaken over several years that was realised in the framework of the project ‘Lokaltermin Schwamendingen’ from KiöR.