It is incredible, but sometimes also Switzerland can be less than perfect – especially when it comes to advertising Art-related events which are not world-class-important art fairs. The daily artsy events do not get in the limelight as much as big recurring or institutionalized artsy milestones – which is a real pity in a city like Zurich, where Art is an integral part of the economy, culture and lifestyle of the city itself.

However, this is not applicable for Hauser&Wirth. Not a coincidence this Swiss (and today global, with locations in NYC, LA, London and now also Somerset, UK) powerhouse is absolutely my favourite gallery and my personal mecca for Contemporary Art in Zurich.

I received the invitation for Anri Sala‘s grand opening at H&W Zurich a couple of weeks ago, as Swiss bon-ton prescribes. Therefore I had already the date saved in my calendar – unmissable!

The Press & Communcation Office of the Gallery has also sent me the Press Release in advance and a link from where I can download the official pictures of the event with the titles and credits details. Simply flawless. I write to announce my arrival and I am kindly answered within less than 24 hours that H&W Gallery’s Director, Mr. Florian Berktold, will be happy to see me and answer any additional questions I might have. Simply great.

The Private View (i.e. one day before the official opening) starts at 6 pm on Friday 21.11.2014 and with a friend a show up on time. But I can already sense that the amount of people going towards the gallery direction is enormous. Surely H&W is important, but their space is however limited – will the guests all fit?

Then the enlightening answer comes spontaneously from the kind receptionist who greets me at the entrance: on that very same evening, almost all the museums and galleries in the building at Limmatstrasse 270 are celebrating the opening of a new exhibition.

Okey-dokey…! Terrific, really – but … why NO ONE advertised this wonderful occurrence?? In the same building as H&W there are The Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Eva Presenhuber Gallery, Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Kunsthalle Zurich and Westbau The LUMA Foundation. Not one single piece of adversiment about their events was seen around the city or online. Ouch. Nowhere really visible at least.

But I am there thanks to H&W, so I start visiting the exhibition of Anri Sala (b. 1974) entitled “The Present Moment (in B-flat)” – a body of new works presented by the young Albanian and Berlin-based artist at H&W in Zurich. The exhibition explores the notion of “Present” in concurrence and as opposed to related notions of “Past” and “Future”. We read from the official Press Release:

“Central to the exhibition are two video installations: ‘The Present Moment (in B-flat)’ and ‘Unravel’. The former consists of different musical renditions instigated by the original score of Arnold Schoenberg’s composition, ‘Verklärte Nacht Op. 4’ (1899), whilst the latter brings together two distinct performances of Maurice Ravel’s ‘Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Orchestra in D major’ (1929), triggering two competing versions of ‘now’. The exhibition operates like a site where competing instances of the present are encountered and integrated, either by the visitor’s own path across the knotted soundtracks of ‘The Present Moment (in B-flat)’, or the intervention of a DJ in ‘Unravel’, attempting to resolve the tempo disparities between two different executions of the same concerto.

‘The Present Moment (in B-flat)’ is a fictional rearrangement of a piece of chamber music unfolding in a space ending in an imaginary cul-de-sac. Featuring a sextet of two violins, two violas and two cellos, this immersive audio-visual installation beckons one through the gallery, across different stages and locations.”

If you walk into the gallery with the “usual” expectations of being greeted by paintings and other installations… well… forget about it. I do not want to spoil the surprise. All I can say is… go! And see it for yourself. H&W will not let you down in this safe yet exciting artistic choice for the month of November.

Meanwhile, as long as you are there, you can have an all-inclusive artistic package by visiting also the following exhibitions, which have also started on the 22.11.2014, i.e.:

1. The Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, 22 November – 08 February 2015
Wu Tsang, “Not in my language“

2. Eva Presenhuber Gallery, 22 November – 08 February 2015
Candida Höfer, “Closer”
Alex Hubbard, “Urethane Paintings”
Justin Matherly, Oscar Murillo, David Ostrowski, Tobias Pils

3. Galerie Bob van Orsouw, 8 November 2014 – 17 January 2015
Anton Henning, “Einige liebevoll gemalte Stilleben, Portraits, Interieurs und zwei metaphysisch anmutende Triptychen“

4. Kunsthalle Zurich, 21 November 2014 – 25 January 2015
T.F.T. Müllenbach
Avery Singer, “Pictures Punish Words“

5. Westbau The LUMA Foundation, 22 November 2014 – 25 January 2015
Theatre Objects: A stage for Architecture and Art

A special thank goes to Anri Sala and Florian Berktold, for the time they took in such an important evening to answer my many questions.

Another wholehearted thank goes to the nice and professional staff of Hauser&Wirth, for the courtesy and attention dedicated to their visitors.

Carmela Tfr

All pics credits are according to description.

All the pics by *artemporary have been taken with the kind approval of Hauser&Wirth.

All rights reserved.