Arthur’s Universe

Arthur’s Universe is a kind of journey through the private collection of Swiss archi-tect and researcher Arthur Rüegg. Over the course of time, he has collected arte-facts from architecture, design and art of the 20th century and related them to ar-tefacts from various everyday cultures: small things tell the big story.

Architecture is seen as a human being’s ‘third skin’, after the biological epidermis and textile clothing. It offers physical protection, its appearance follows traditions and con-ventions, and occasionally also innovations. If architecture serves a domestic purpose, it becomes a place of ‘home’ – regardless of whether it is a primitive hut, an urban apart-ment block or a periurban terraced house.

The dwelling is functionally differentiated. It is equipped with furnishings and installa-tions that make living more practical and comfortable. A chair, a table with cutlery and crockery or a bed make it easier to sit, eat or sleep. Water, kitchen and bathroom or heating and electricity provide further amenities.

The dwelling also offers space for the individuality of the people who inhabit it. A coat of paint, carpets, a television or decorations make it ‘to feel homely’. Pictures and photos of loved ones or meaningful objects are an expression of feelings of belonging, memory or of beauty. Every domestic space is hence unique.

Arthur Rüegg, born in 1942, is a Swiss architect, researcher and teacher. His architec-tural work covers all levels of scale, from the urban dimension to the architectural and the physical reality of crafted detail.

As a researcher, Arthur Rüegg deciphered the material dimensions of modern Swiss architecture and its furniture and interiors. With the same meticulousness, he also ex-plored the history of building construction, the furnishings and the use of colours in Le Corbusier’s work.

Arthur Rüegg made these discoveries accessible to the public in numerous exhibitions, scientific essays and book publications, many of which are to be considered as refer-ence works today. As a professor of architecture at ETH Zurich, he influenced genera-tions of students.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Reto Gadola an article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung entitled Arthur Rüegg: Verdienter Förderer moderner Wohnkultur (Arthur Rüegg: Merited Patron of Modern Domestic Culture).

Arthur Rüegg not only adapted his personal home, a modest terraced house from the early 20th century, to the changing needs of his family. Rather, it serves as an experi-mental setting for a collection of objects that he has accumulated over time – veritable ‘flotsam of life’.

Arthur Rüegg’s collection comprises countless objets à réaction poétique (Le Corbusier) with a direct link to the history of 20th century architecture and design. Artefacts from everyday cultures and folklores in Switzerland and around the world form a kind of ref-erence space for the products of high culture: design objects, furniture, carpets and home textiles, prototypes and samples as well as paintings, drawings and photographs, works of sculpture and an extensive library on the subject.

The collection offers a surprising, unprecedented insight into the history of ideas and the correlations between architecture, furniture and design and the visual arts of the 20th century. Works by Le Corbusier, Max Bill, René Burri, Herzog & de Meuron and other important artists are merged with ordinary objects from different cultures to form spatial constellations.

Photobook

Reto Gadola’s some 90 colour images are the backbone of the book publication. The rooms and their transformation by the architect Arthur Rüegg form the background for associative, sometimes thematically organised sequences of images. In a cinematic manner, overviews alternate with close-ups of objects and constellations, sometimes taking on the characteristics of a picture puzzle. At times Arthur is present in the picture.

It is only with the background information in text form that the pictures reveal their full effect. Captions written by Arthur Rüegg decipher the inner life of the objects and their multilayered cross-references. In order not to disturb the flow of the images, the cap-tions are visually restrained and grouped in sections. In a concise essay, Klaus Spechtenhauser, architectural historian and former research assistant to Arthur Rüegg, contextualises the concept of ‘biographical living’.

The dummy of the book publication gives a first impression of how the photo book will look. It currently comprises 128 pages. The format is slightly upright rectangular, ap-prox. 23 x 27 cm. The book is to be published in German, a translation into English is enclosed in a separate booklet.

Arthur’s Universe

Domestic culture

Arthur Rüegg

Flotsam of life

Photobook