Hilar Stadler

Alex Capus

Museum im Bellpark

The Swiss balloonist Eduard Spelterini (1852-1931) was perhaps Europe's greatest pioneer in the late 19th century of this earliest means of air travel. At the height of his fame he was known all over Europe as the King of the Air and Defeater of Gravity

Eduard Spelterini - photographs of a pioneer balloonist

Peter Fischli

Martino Stierli

This work presents a large selection of Venturi, Scott Brown, and Izenour's pictures in large size. The essays complement the pictures and investigate how they used images to contemplate the phenomenon of the modern city and forge the link to the architectural practice of the past decades.

Images from the Archives of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown

Las Vegas Studio

Hans Ulrich Obrist

David Glanzmann

Drawing Together

Martin Stollenwerk

Everything about them is cool. The baby blue Porsche 917, the Chevy Camaro, the blue-, red- and yellow-striped overalls, the boys in low-buttoned shirts, sporting moustaches and a full head of hair, with the sunshine in their faces. Women wearing thick eyeliner and bell-bottoms, girls in crocheted bikinis at the finishing line, garlands of flowers for the winner. Motor sports in the 1960s, '70s and '80s gave rise to a whole world of imagery that arouses a certain wistfulness nowadays. Not only a nostalgia for beautiful old racing cars, but a more comprehensive yearning for the days when even major auto races were still held on ordinary roads, when ambitious auto mechanics would tinker away at a racing car in the local garage and international Grand Prix stars were still approachable. Gilles Villeneuve pushes a strand of hair behind his ear, Pedro Rodriguez rests up on a little stone wall, Jo Siffert stands around in white jeans and cowboy boots, Ayrton Senna is absorbed in thought. The cars race through Monaco and Le Mans and over the hills of Palermo. Most of the pictures in Gasoline and Magic, often impressive and quasi intimate shots, were taken by amateur photographers, who now share with us their fascination with fast cars. Swiss filmmaker and collector Thomas Horat spent years tracking down, labeling and archiving these pictures, which he now presents for the first time to the world at large in Gasoline and Magic.

Gasoline and Magic

Since it was first published in 1972, Learning from Las Vegas has become a classic in the theory of architecture and one of the most influential architecture texts of the twentieth century. The treatise by Robert Venturi (*1925), Denise Scott Brown (*1931), and Steven Izenour (1940–2001) enjoys a reputation as a signal work of postmodernism in architecture and urban planning. Yet none of the book's editions have ever featured high-quality color images of the field research the authors conducted to illustrate their argument. Las Vegas Studio, originally published in 2008, was the first book ever to present these significant photographs in large color reproductions. Now available again in a new paperback edition, this unique book features 102 of these iconic images and film stills, alongside essays by Swiss scholars Stanislaus von Moos Martino Stierli that explore how the pictures contemplate the phenomenon of the modern city. Also included is a discussion by curator and critic Hans Ulrich Obrist with Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and Swiss artist Peter Fischli that speaks to the strong and lasting influence these images still have on contemporary art and movies. A unique opportunity to experience the full intent and import of the Learning from Las Vegas project,Las Vegas Studio continues to appeal to architects, architectural historians, and scholars alike.

Hilar Stadler

Books

Your next favorite book is out there