Zumthor's 'Dear to Me'

John Hill

10. October 2017

Dear to Me, 2017, Exhibition view 2nd floor. (Photo: Markus Tretter / Courtesy of Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partners © Peter Zumthor, Kunsthaus Bregenz)

On the occasion of the Kunsthaus Bregenz's 20th birthday, its architect, Peter Zumthor, was invited to stage an exhibition. But those expecting Dear to Me to be a display celebrating the master architect's work will be disappointed.

During the exhibition, which opened last month and lasts until 7 January 2018, more than 60 live events of all sorts will take place: "Music is being performed, authors are reading, drinks are being served, pictures exhibited, and a library assembled, films are being screened, a music box installed, and plants made to flourish." Instead of works produced by the architect, visitors to the Austrian museum will encounter spaces that provide him inspiration. In Zumthor's words:

Thinking is a line, feelings are space.
I love thinking in images.
To create spaces that touch people, like certain passages in music by Mahler or Wagner,
composed with the means of Schönberg or Webern,
with the energy and transparency of Stravinsky — what a treat that would be.
But now, let’s celebrate!

Dear to Me, the Kunsthaus Bregenz's 20th anniversary celebration, features music curated by Peter Conradin Zumthor, readings organized by Brigitte Labs-Ehlert, Hélène Binet's photographs of Dimitris Pikionis's Acropolis paths, and Sunday morning interviews between Zumthor and people whose work has inspired him.