The Ambassadors Launch in Pfyn

Launch of The Ambassadors / Die Botschafter

The Ambassadors is a project in collaboration with Alex Meszmer and Reto Müller (zeitgarten.ch), Rosalie Schweiker and Grace Cookey-Gam, with the participation of residents of Tulse Hill Estate (South London) and Pfyn (Switzerland).

Commissioned for Democratic Art Weeks 2011-2012, a year long programme of collaborative, participatory and interactive projects for Pfyn – Cultural Capital of Switzerland. Curated by zeitgarten.ch.

A short video explaining how I work and introducing The Ambassadors.

Could you be an Ambassador for Tulse Hill Estate?
Können Sie ein Botschafter für Pfyn sein?

Be part of an exchange where local life rules.

We are looking for residents from Pfyn (Switzerland) and Tulse Hill Estate (South London) interested in becoming Ambassadors representing everyday life in their communities through an international exchange project.

Have you got what it takes?

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to represent your trade, profession, community group or hobby and to connect with like-minded people.

Join the community diplomatic service today!

The Ambassadors Launch in Pfyn, 1 August 2011

The Ambassadors was launched in Pfyn, as part of Swiss National Day celebrations. Here are some images from the celebration, that was held on top of a hill. In addition from being an opportunity to introduce my project to Pfyners, the celebration also involved speeches, folk music, fire, wholesome food and gymnastics illuminated by tractor lights.

Earlier in 2011 I was invited by Alex and Reto (zeitgarten.ch) to be one of the twelve international artists of Democratic Art Weeks, a year long programme of collaborative, participatory and interactive projects commissioned for Pfyn – Cultural Capital of Switzerland.

Pfyn is a rural village 50 km away from Zürich with a population of 2,000 which was declared Capital Culture of Switzerland in an artistic gesture by zeitgarten.ch, to highlight the need to think of all places – regardless of location and size – as worthy places for culture production and enjoyment. The Cultural Capital status was then officially endorsed by Pfyn’s Mayor and Community Council.

The starting premise for The Ambassadors was the idea that as an artist who is heavily invested in the idea of local practice, it didn’t make much sense for me to make up a project for a place I have never visited, whose residents I have never met, and which language I could not even speak. Instead, I proposed to start from the fact that the invitation to participate in Democratic Art Weeks came from Alex and Reto’s similar investment in a locally situated practice and their interest in the closeness of our conceptual and practical approaches to art making.

In other words, we were coming together because of our desire to explore the similarities and differences framed by our “likeness” as local artists. In the process of doing so, we were also acting as unofficial ambassadors for our chosen places of residency and work. What would it mean if the opportunity to travel, to get to know a new place and make new friends, and to create something new for the visited location was extended to other members of our local communities?

Pfyn and Tulse Hill Estate have roughly the same population and despite their huge differences, it seemed to us that an exploration of commonalities was a worthy endeavor.

The use of ambassadors become central to political strategy during the Italian Renaissance. Italy was at that time a amalgamation of many small states, that were vulnerable to the economic and military power of larger European states. An effective system of ambassadors was fundamental to ensure the circulation of information and the making of political alliances. The ambassador system was used to disperse information and to provide a safety net of political influence.

We liked the idea that the role of the ambassador was historically linked to small scale and to a practice of craftily negotiating ways around and through more powerful forces.

During the Swiss National Day celebration, Democratic Art Weeks had a stall featuring The Ambassadors and the project US1105 by Italian artist Stefano Pasquini.

Photo courtesy of Stefano Pasquini

I wore a sandwich board explaining the project and inviting people to come forward as potential Ambassadors.

Photo courtesy of Stefano Pasquini

During the rest of my stay in Pfyn I am visiting different people and community groups to collect images, objects and stories to take back to Tulse Hill Estate and start looking for possible Ambassador “matches”.

Dinner and good conversation in Rüdi’s front porche.

Margrith’s love of roses and paper napkins.

Margrith and Gustavi, our wonderful hosts, entertain us with some traditional Swiss songs.

During my stay in Pfyn I also gave a talk alongside Stephano Pasquini, at the local cultural centre, and we posed under the sign at the entrance to Pfyn, announcing Democratic Arts Week.

The Ambassadors is part of Tulse Hill Diaries an ongoing body of work within Tulse Hill Estate which is at the core of my doctoral research project Living together: The artist as a neighbour.