When Pipilotti Rist (Grabs, Switzerland, 62) presented her pioneering and unusual outdoor living room in St. Gallen, she said it was made of monster blood. The liquid from the imaginary beast spilled on the streets of the Bleichi district was converted into granulated rubber and, covering elements such as a giant vase, a car or a fountain, gave rise to a red carpet that invades and homogenizes squares, streets and street furniture, generating a deliberate contrast with the surroundings. In this way, a district has been transformed where, when the office workers went home and the shops closed, many things did not happen. The project was started more than 15 years ago and was led by this renowned video artist and the Spanish-born architect Carlos Martínez, both originally from the canton of St. Gallen.
In these times, where the urban debate revolves around the management of public space, projects such as the superilles The Barcelona superblocks (traffic distribution zones for local use) have proven to be a success. So much so that even the local residents who criticised them would not turn back for a second. That is why it is nice to discover precedents that were much more radical in their implementation and that did not generate conflict but rather understanding and empathy, as well as opening up paths and inspiring new proposals in favour of the community.
This City lounge He doesn’t understand why a person is called a pedestrian. It’s like a second skin: you feel attached to a space that you make your own at different times of the day and night. Subversive and welcoming, it’s a real public living room furnished with sofas, chairs, tables, deckchairs. Children move around on the tartan as if in a park, enchanted by the tactility. Adults sit and argue in the tone of voice used in Switzerland, and the broker on duty dictates figures into his mobile phone when he comes down to get some fresh air and relax his neck. At night, the beautiful street lamps that simulate wayward floating rocks illuminate the scene and attract the youngest with their light. In 2017, it won the A’ Design Award & Competition in the category of street furniture design. In short, it is a creation that breaks the lines between artistic intervention and design and is based on the idea of turning the street into a place of play and delight for citizens.
Pipilotti Rist began her artistic career in St. Gallen, and the Kunstmuseum proudly recalls that it was they who first organised the institutional exhibition in 1994 that opened the doors to the general public. Melanie Bühler, the current director, says of the square: “Such a large patch of red evokes a space of play, imagination, wonder and possibility. Urban areas like this are deserted after hours of work and shopping. Thanks to the Stadt Lounge it has become a meeting place and brings life to an otherwise dead area.” She also recalls that it is a reflection of Rist’s language: “A visionary artist, a pioneer of video art and multimedia installations who has created her own distinctive visual universe in which she mixes femininity, pop culture and a sense of wonder and dreaminess similar to that of Alice in Wonderland”.
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