Christoph Doswald

R my Zaugg (1943-2005) was an internationally renowned artist who lived and worked in Basel and Mulhouse. He saw himself as a painter, yet he would not limit himself solely to the production of images. Rather, from his painterly practice he generated general assumptions for a processual conception of the work that enabled him to view spatial, architectural, and urban contexts in new, unfamiliar ways. Accordingly, the perceiving human being as a member of society was always at the center of his considerations - all his aesthetic assumptions led to the emancipatory idea of the becoming subject. In addition to his extensive painterly and written oeuvre, it is therefore his activities and projects for and in public space that are essential for understanding Zaugg's particular artistic position. The book is dedicated to this socially relevant complex of topics, documenting all of the artist's respective realized and unrealized projects, with a particular focus on the following key aspects of his work: museum architecture (here in particular his collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron), exhibitions with works by other artists, art in public spaces as well as his preoccupation.

"Art and the City" explores the condition of public art in cities. Divided into two volumes shrinkwrapped together--one of color plates, the other of critical discussion--it includes works by artists such as Doug Aitken, Ai Weiwei, Los Carpinteros, Martin Creed, Frank Stella and Oscar Tuazon.