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Fabian Güzelgün on Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest
15 January, 2024
The rain was pouring while we were standing at the entry in front of the Kunsthaus. A well-needed canopy in our own hands, thanks to the colleagues who were prepared and brought an umbrella. We waited for the church bells to ring at 9 am and then ran inside, together with the other “kaffee schabracken” who apparently also had nothing else to do on a Wednesday morning. We got split up into different groups, with each their own theme and guides. A handsome man with his funky Ipad led us to the Bürle collection, then with a long walk through the underpass to the main building and after a quick stay in the cafe, back to the chippy over the city plaza. With the smaller group, we talked about safe space for art, and what that could/should look like.
Back in the big hall, we opened the accordingly big discussion, talking about city squares, car and public transportation routes. There I might add, that the whole tram system in this area will be redesigned in the next year. Somebody mentioned a possible outpost of the Kunsthaus in the first gen Zürich agglo, for example, Altstetten. I really liked that idea, but I think I might also have heard some cold shivers rattling down some old spines as the idea echoed through the hall. It sadly ended in some sort of argument or rather just expressions of self-positioning, where you politely let the other speak, before you mention your clearly fixed opinion again. Back and forth about the Swiss democratic system, the preference of pure liberalism, denying the value or even existence of expertise, raising the question in my head again, and clearly not for the first time that morning; what am I even doing here?