Imagine la Suisse

In autumn 2016, S AM closed its doors for conversion work. However, instead of just being closed during this period, it went out onto the street. The windows facing Steinenberg have become projection screens, on which the architects and curators Mateja Vehovar and Stefan Jauslin presented their interpretation of Swiss architecture in a video installation.

For the ‹Imagine La Suisse› film collage the S AM appealed for people throughout Switzerland to send in photos and videos of built-up sites with which they have a personal connection. These submissions gave rise to a pool of images ranging from individual buildings and everyday architecture to infrastructural features and spatial situations and on to landscape architecture, comprising both contemporary and traditional architectural forms. These diverse subjective perceptions have been woven into an atmospherically-dense portrait of Switzerland by Vehovar and Jauslin. In this the pictures shift constantly between familiar architectural icons and less specific spatial moments, contemplative pictures overlap dynamic representations.

This installation heralds the new programme of the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum under the leadership of Director Andreas Ruby.