The Deutsche Bank Collection in Zurich Local focus, international flair Entrance to the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Zürich On the right wall is a striped creature; on the left one a mottled pig whose precise breed probably only an expert could determine. Between these two black-and-white photographs by Balthasar Burkhard stand a simple wooden-topped conference table and several office chairs by the legendary designers Charles and Ray Eames. Those who meet to work in this conference room of the Deutsche Bank in Zurich must be content with a markedly sparse interior. Many customers, says Managing Director Renzo A.Berger, very much value this restrained décor, for it does not divert their attention from serious business matters, not to mention from the imposing animal portraits by the Bernese artist Burkhard—the zebra and the pig that he has photographed in profile, like objects in a natural history museum. Many a customer would initially perhaps have preferred something with more colour in it, only on closer scrutiny to realise that black and white can also possess an infinite range of nuances. And many a customer might also perhaps wish they were sitting a few rooms further down the corridor, where the undisputed favourites of the Zurich bank's collection are located—two brilliantly coloured 1999 film stills O Ewigkeit du Donnerwetter (O eternity by thunder) and Zu deinem Tische treten wir (To thy table we approach) by Pipilotti Rist. Balthasar Burkhard, Zebra, 1996 Deutsche Bank Collection © Balthasar Burkhard But the conference rooms cannot be reserved in advance. Although the constructivist drawings from the last portfolio of the great Swiss architect and artist Max Bill create a completely different atmosphere than do Andreas Slominski's bottle-shaped Vogelfallen (Bird traps), staff members use whatever room happens to be free to consult with their clients. Thus their next meeting may take place beneath a work by Not Vidal, or gouaches by Silvia Bächli - one of the most important graphic artists working in Switzerland today. On her white strips of paper created in 1993, sketchily drawn houses, plants and other minimalist objects form poetic abstractions that may be read as counterpoints to the visual stimulations that constantly bombard us in our daily lives. Although Bächli works with extremely modest means—in stark contrast to Pipilotti Rist, who revels in the rush and flood of information generated by contemporary media—this brief selection is indicative of what has been the focus of the Zurich headquarters' collection since it was inaugurated in 1994: works on paper, small print editions, selected photographs—overwhelmingly by Swiss artists. Some 90 percent of the artists represented here come from the Alpine republic—including such global players as Max Bill, and Martin Disler from Solothurn (who died in 1996), whose expressive triptych Endless modern licking of crashing globe by black doggie time-bomb (1981) masterfully blends a diverse range of print techniques. Pipilotti Rist: O Ewigkeit du Donnerwetter (O eternity by thunder, 1999) Deutsche Bank Collection Pipilotti Rist: Zu deinem Tische treten wir (To thy table we approach, 1999) Deutsche Bank Collection An artist need not always be internationally known in order to be represented in the Zurich collection. In the opinion of Renzo A. Berger who—working closely with Dr. Ariane Grigoteit, director of Deutsche Bank Art in Frankfurt—has looked after the collection here on an honorary basis from its inauguration, this focus on the local art scene has many advantages. One example is the acquisition of works by the three artist brothers Peter, Michael and Silvio R. Baviera, who all live here in Zurich. Whereas Peter Baviera's blue-and-white Wolkenbild (Cloud picture, 1971) hangs directly under an overhead light in the building's entrance hall, Berger has pragmatically located Michael Baviera's minimalist Arbeit 4 (Work 4) in a corridor where in accordance with the artist's instructions he can turn the beechwood relief through 90 degrees every three months to alter its appearance. And the allusive art of Silvio Baviera is also extremely intriguing. In the tradition of Concrete Poetry, the artist, writer and unapologetic revolutionary of the sixties generation strings together apparently disjointed series of words: "Recht macht/macht Recht" (Right makes/makes right) stands on one untitled sheet of paper—a work whose subtle message is grasped only on a second or third reading. Appreciating art takes time and therefore the Zurich branch of the Deutsche Bank has adopted the Frankfurt headquarters' concept of presenting "art at work" for its venerable listed building in the city centre. Some of the works—selected according to the most exacting criteria by a rotating jury of gallery owners and museum curators—may be borrowed by staff members to furnish their offices. The rest have been placed by Berger according to his own judgement. He also organises guided tours of the building, as well as of other cultural institutions in the city such as the Zurich Kunsthalle. Artists whose works have been recently purchased often come to the bank to talk about them with staff members. And finally, each year one artist is featured in Deutsche Bank Switzerland's annual report. Martin Disler Endless modern licking of crashing globe by black dobbie time-bomb, 1981 © Nachlass Martin Disler. Courtesy Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann Zürich Berger calmly accepts that art does not always appeal to all tastes. In particular strange-looking works seemingly communicating profound ideas that take some effort to understand have a particularly hard time gaining acceptance. These include Günther Förg's 1983 work with its lines of black ink of varying width drawn on paper, and the art of Anton Stankowski, who in the seventies designed the famous blue logo of the Deutsche Bank, Quadrat mit Schraegstich (Square with diagonal line). Recently a staff member covered his drawings with brightly coloured postcards—obviously she had difficulty appreciating the austere designs hanging behind her desk. Förg and Deisler, neither of whom are Swiss, belong to the second and disproportionately smaller part of a collection that now comprises several hundred works—the part consisting of works by German-speaking artists that establish formal or textual cross-references to other works in the collection. One such artist is Imi Knoebel, who has dubbed his post-1976 works "Mennige pictures" - after a brand of industrial antirust paint. Starting in the mid-seventies, this former student of Josef Beuys began to cut simple crosses, polygons and squares into sheets of white paper, allowing the colours painted underneath the cut-outs to shine through—an explicit allusion to Kasimir Malevich, who progressed from Cubism to the kind of non-figurative "concrete" forms to be found in many works in the collection. Berger acquired the sheets by Max Bill from the artist's estate. Otherwise he places great value on "buying art for tomorrow," before its price rises with the artist in question's popularity. Thus Balthasar Burkhard, who lived and worked for six years in Chicago in the mid-seventies before returning to Switzerland, is represented not only by several series of photographs. Berger initially established contact with the artist through a competition to find a concept for the entrance area on the ground floor. Glass installation by Balthasar Burkhard in the foyer of the Deutsche Bank, Zurich Deutsche Bank Collection © Henning Bock The competition stipulated a design that would screen staff members from view while at the same time allowing light to pass through it and gently diffuse on the other side. Burkhard convinced the competition jury with his design for a wall consisting of a series of sliding glass panels, on which are inscribed several monumental whirls and spirals. For Berger these forms exude a balanced aura of protection and security. In addition, in his installation Durchleuchtung (Transillumination) the artist alludes explicitly to symbols from the dim and distant past, for in the ancient stone of the terrazzo floor in the foyer may be clearly seen the gigantic fossil of a prehistoric snail. Such an elegant synthesis between the building's venerable structure and contemporary art is not always possible. The house in which the bank has taken up residence, with its ornate wooden doors and sumptuous panelling dating from the period of Austria's great imperial past, is neither a white cube nor a functional office building. Thus art finds whatever corner it can there to house in—for instance on the wall above the photocopying machines, where staff members waiting their turn can contemplate the Alpine scenes that Burkhard photographed and then transposed into heliogravures replete with sharp contrasts. His motifs appear so realistic that, for instance, a business client recently scrutinising Burkhard's Wollschwein (Woolly pig) first declared the animal to be in the best of health and then asked if he could purchase a photograph of it too. But unfortunately he came too late: the limited edition of the animal portrait that Berger acquired some years ago has long since sold out. » back to overview