Stephan Trüby

“First we shape things, then they shape us”, was Churchill’s view. What kind of architecture can be said to shape? Who does it shape? And by what means does it shape? The author’s answers to these questions are a surprise. Through war and proximity to stress. After a tour d’horizon through Roman temples, Washington’s corridors of power and Mecca’s anti-panic architecture it becomes clear that architecture is anything but in the background. Instead it is situated in the hot spot of transmission dynamics and is capable of altering cultures, empires and even religions.

With a Foreword by Heiner Mühlmann and a Project by Exit Ltd.

Exit-Architecture. Design Between War and Peace

Philip Ursprung

Gianluigi Ricuperati

This beautifully illustrated book accompanies an exhibit at gta exhibitions of ETH Zurich that focuses on artworks featuring carefully designed stages—a deliberate blurring of the border between art, architecture, and performance. Creating static, yet theatrical, tableaux in which artists can highlight the interplay between the disciplines of art and architecture, the stages at the same time represent a wide range of creative approaches to art and art making, and they also offer reflections on sources of artistic inspiration, including books and films. A lasting record of a carefully—and creatively—curated exhibition,Theater Objects will surprise and impress architects, artists, and fans of both forms.

A Stage for Architecture and Art

Theater Objects

Shumon Basar

Madelon Vriesendorp

Skyscrapers have sex and are caught in flagrante delicto. Between a pink torso and a buffed-up American GI, a nun spits fire. Synchronised swimmers, prize-winning vegetables and the mythic 'making' of Manhattan are all celebrated on countless postcards. A home-analysis kit combines the veneer of Freudian insight with the depth of Trivial Pursuit. Welcome to the world of artist Madelon Vriesendorp. This publication reveals for the first time a significant - and near secret - corpus of work notable for its wild diversity. Though Vriesendorp is best known for her seminal cycle of anthropomorphic architectural paintings, her extensive 'art of generosity' embraces bad taste, pop, 'playground surrealism' and the touching beauty of culture's failed objects. Here, enlightenment emerges from distraction, whilst seriousness must surrender to the non-serious.

Stephan Trüby

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