Zurich Transit Maritime

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The Zurich harbor crane on the banks of the Limmat in April 2014 shortly before construction work was completed
A bollard on the Limmatquai. Recorded in 2012.

Zürich Transit Maritim (spelling “zürich transit maritim” ) was a temporary art intervention from 2009 to 2015, with a port festival in July 2014 as the highlight. The installation included typical objects from port cities. In 2009 five bollards were erected along the Limmatquais . The centerpiece of the exhibition was a harbor crane that was erected in Zurich in April 2014. The art project caused major public disputes years before it was realized.

“Zürich transit maritim” told a fictional history of Zurich as a port city going back 2000 years. Water transport by sea and river would have made a significant contribution to the development of the city. Reference was also made to the geological history of the region: 35 and 17 million years ago Zurich was flooded by a sea.

history

The project of erecting a harbor crane as a work of art in the center of Zurich was initiated in the noughties by those in charge of the red-green dominated Zurich city government . «Zürich transit maritim» was designed by the artist Jan Morgenthaler, the sculptor Barbara Roth, the artist Martin Senn and the architect and designer Fariba Sepehrnia. It was the winning project out of 57 submitted projects and the seven that made it onto the shortlist.

On November 4th, 2009 the first of a total of five bollards was erected. The whole thing was staged as an archaeological discovery of a 2000 year old bollard. In addition to the co-initiator of the art project Jan Morgenthaler, the city archaeologist Andreas Motschi and the geologist Wilfried Winkler were also present. It was planned that a port crane would be erected around a year later. However, due to various political controversies and financial difficulties, the project stalled.

The port crane of the project was primarily noticed and discussed by the general public. Right from the start, the idea of ​​building a harbor crane in the old town split the residents of Zurich into two camps. There was criticism that the sum of 700,000 francs was much too high for the project. On January 20, 2011, the municipal council approved a loan of CHF 380,000 for the installation of a harbor crane in the center of Zurich. The opponents literally insulted the art project as a “shitty thing nobody wants”, while its supporters spoke of “food for thought”. The harbor crane opponents spoke of compulsory action, as the municipal council had already rejected an application in the same matter in 2009. After the decision of the municipal council, the city council issued the building permit. The only objection to the project was withdrawn on July 17, 2012, so that the building permit became legally binding. In September 2013 one last obstacle appeared. After technical changes, the costs were suddenly 120,000 francs above the approved budget of 600,000 francs and a fiasco threatened at the last moment. City councilor Martin Waser then announced that he was ready to pay the missing 120,000 out of his own pocket. Thanks to an appeal for donations, the shortfall quickly decreased and the project was finally saved thanks to the personal commitment of Martin Waser.

In April 2014, the port crane was finally installed as the heart of “Zurich transit maritime”. The port crane decommissioned in Rostock on the Baltic Sea stood temporarily in the center of the old town next to the town hall on the banks of the Limmat . The single-link block pillar luffing crane , built in 1963 by VEB Kranbau Eberswalde ( TAKRAF ), was marked with rust, was not allowed to be entered and was no longer functional. Although it stood on rails on the Limmatquai, as it used to be in the Baltic Sea port , it was firmly anchored for safety reasons and could not be moved. Since there was only a temporary building permit for the crane, it had to be canceled again in 2015. The associated harbor festival took place from July 4th to 6th, 2014. The port crane was dismantled from January 19, 2015, and then scrapped.

Artistic concept

Former shipbuilding hall in Zurich

The whole installation is staged as a pseudo-archaeological exploration. It is a story about the discovery of Zurich's maritime past that has been forgotten. More and more finds indicated that Zurich was once a port city with a deep-sea port. First bollards were found for mooring ships. As a highlight, a harbor crane was uncovered at the site of the former meat hall. Finally a ship's horn sounds , announcing the arrival of a ship.

The installation refers to a real background and aims to initiate an urban development discussion. 100 years ago, Zurich planned an industrial and commercial port to enable shipping to the Rhine . The city council therefore launched a competition to find out how best to connect Zurich to the Rhine waterways. This was carried out in the years 1915–1918. Various plans were submitted as to how Zurich could be made navigable. These included port facilities and canals. Some plans provided for several locks and one wanted to connect the Brunau to Wollishofen with an underground canal . In Zurich, Escher, Wyss & Cie. Ships built. They were assembled in what is now the industrial quarter and then rolled onto rails to Lake Zurich. Steam ships that are still in operation today and manufactured in the Zurich shipyard are, for example, the paddle steamer Unterwalden on Lake Lucerne and the two remaining paddle steamers Stadt Rapperswil and Stadt Zürich on Lake Zurich .

The art installation aims to stimulate discussion of what Zurich would look like today if these plans had been implemented back then. It gives the viewer a concrete clue to speculate about what Zurich would look like in urban planning today and what life in the city would be like if the city like Basel had a direct connection to the North Sea with some ports .

Reception and political consequences

In a written online survey Free - tabloid " 20 minutes " have come forward 78% of the participating readers negatively to the port crane.

After the building permit became legally binding , the Swiss People's Party (SVP) launched a popular initiative and collected 6,000 signatures. The initiative demands that port cranes and port infrastructure may no longer be built in Zurich in the future. However, the initiative is not a suitable means of preventing the port crane project, since its building permit is already legally binding and the coordination can only take place after the construction of the structure. The initiative was submitted on November 4, 2012. On March 18, 2014, the Zurich City Council recommended this initiative for rejection. Regardless of the decision of the vote, however, the popular initiative has only symbolic meaning.

photos

  • View from the station bridge towards the vegetable bridge

  • Bollard with harbor crane in the background (“Zürich Limmatquai” stop)

  • Limmatraum, view from the Rudolf-Brun-Brücke to the vegetable bridge

  • Installation with armchair and banner «Free space for cranes, art & harmless nonsense». Probably an artistic “guerrilla” campaign.

literature

  • Andreas Teuscher: Switzerland by the Sea: Plans for the “Central Harbor” of Europe including crossing the Alps with ships in the 20th century. Limmat, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-85791-740-0 .
  • Jan Morgenthaler (Ed.): Harbor crane. History and stories. Limmat, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-85791-795-0 . ( about the book )

Web links

Commons : Zurich Transit Maritim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "The Zurich harbor crane has been erected - it stands" Urs Bühler in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on April 17, 2014
  2. ^ Prolog. Zurich transit maritime, accessed on April 22, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Benno Gasser, first bollard on Limmatquai stands . In: Tages-Anzeiger. November 5, 2011
  4. ↑ a b c Excerpt from the jury's report on "Zurich Transit Maritime". Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stadt-zuerich.ch
  5. ↑ "Zurich will definitely get a harbor crane" 20 minutes from July 18, 2012
  6. ↑ Yes to the harbor crane after a heated debate 20 minutes on December 21, 2011
  7. ↑ “The Zurich harbor crane is coming” day week of July 18, 2012
  8. ^ "A love story" website of the group "zürich transit maritim", accessed on April 19, 2014
  9. ↑ Christina Neuhaus: Only the initiative has yet to go. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, January 19, 2015, accessed on July 4, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Art in public space on the Limmatquai: A deep sea port for Zurich Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stadt-zuerich.ch
  11. ↑ Martin Huber: When Zurich was planning a real port. In: Tages-Anzeiger. February 20, 2009. [1]
  12. ↑ "Zurich will definitely get a harbor crane" 20 minutes from July 18, 2012
  13. ↑ "City council opposes the harbor crane initiative" 20 Minuten , Zurich, March 19, 2014