Uwe Wittwer. Before the glass breaks.

O tomto mieste

Avant que le verre ne cède (Bevor das Glas bricht) is the first monographic exhibition in French-speaking Switzerland devoted to the contemporary Zurich artist Uwe Wittwer (*1954). The exhibition presents monumental watercolours and places several emblematic series at its centre. Fascinated by the mechanisms of how reality, memory and recollection are perceived, Uwe Wittwer develops an artistic practice based on subtle compositions, shifts and distortions of images, as well as symbolic associations. His works link collective and intimate references and show a deep engagement with history and memory. As a research-based artist, he works through archives and brings to light fragments of an often unsettling past, addressing the dark chapters of our history, including Switzerland’s colonial legacy, the destruction of cultural heritage and the Second World War. Art history is a central point of reference for his thinking. In an ongoing dialogue with historical works, especially drawings and prints from the Renaissance, Wittwer questions his own practice in the tension between appropriation and reinterpretation. The ideas of erasure, rupture and destruction shape his work in both content and form. By exploring the expressive possibilities of each medium and deliberately pushing its limits, the artist creates powerful visual worlds in which memory and appearance, past and present, merge. An exhibition led by Marie Gaitzsch, Curator of Fine Arts, and Margaux Farron, Assistant Curator.