Prologue, 12.3.2011

Zurich - Lausanne, a territory survey


Today it's Saturday, March 12, 2011, it's now almost one year after I head the idea to walk from home in Zurich (Switzerland) on the direct way to the Galerie Royal at Munich (Germany). At this state it was just the pure idea, that this walk might be the contribution to the exhibition there, what I was invited to represent a new work. It was for sure, that I didn't have any idea about long distance walks, and especially, I didn't had the constitution to do that. So I had to train my body as well my mind. I did this preparation with several walks with the length of a proposed day walk of the final trip.

Now, after a long winter of feasts, long sleeps and office jobs my body is back in bad shape as ever before.


After my interesting experiences I made with this project in the last year, I had the luck to be invited by DOLL - ESPACE D'ART CONTEMPORAIN in Lausanne to do more or less the same in this late summer.

A remarkable point is, that the position of Lausanne is rather opposite from Zurich as Munich is. It's a little bit closer measured by Kilometres to Zurich, it is in the same Country, but there is a major gap in between, the so called 'Röstigraben': a language boarder between German and French speaking people.

A common misapprehension of foreigners is, that Swiss are able to speak all four national languages (German, French, Italian and Raeto-Romanic), quasi as gift from god. Well, I can say: I grew up with Italians, I had years of French classes at school - but I was quite good in learning nothing.

So these days, when I will walk over in this part of Switzerland I'm forced to speak my international English (compare: français fédéral) with my fellow citizen if they can't German. But that's a matter of fact, for many Swiss English has become the metalanguage to  communicate between the language groups . But 'tant pis' at least we have a way to speak with each other.

The project
Everything started when I was thinking if there might be a follow-up of the walking project of the last year. Some things have been good, other ones could be improved and for sure, some things are just around now: I bought a professional outdoor equipment for expensive money, it would be pity to just let it go to seed in the attic.
So I thought very hard what to do, so I had the very good idea, to search for the old Roman ways through Switzerland and to follow them. I had the idea, that the Romans have been clever ones, mostly they made the roads there, where it's making sense from the geographical point of view: rather direct between two to be connected points, but also in the line management not too much exhausting for the travellers on it. So I started to read the Tabula Peutingeriana and other sources of knowledge to draw that on an old school map:

All in all, the recognition was not that surprising. More or less they followed the main lines of the lakes, close to the bow of the Jura Mountains and valley of the river Rhine (and they obviously liked the area of today’s Basle). Almost as we have our connections today - it takes a big effort to change the direction of streets even in eras, Georges-Eugène Baron Haussmann could tell stories about it.

I was quite far with these researches, but after several sleeps I still wasn't happy with it. Don't know how to explain it properly, it was more a feeling in the stomach: it felt too much constructed; I'm not an experimental archaeologist, I'm more the guy with the camera (if I'm not seating in front of a computer).

So came the idea to ask the art space DOLL for an invitation to a beer - I have this old unfulfilled need to get in contact with this other part of the nation. Usually I vote with them and there are great landscapes and gastronomic specialities, UNO, CERN and so on, and well: I also needed something that was marking the end of my walk - a drink at an art space might be such a sign.
What I didn't expect, was that they invite me to do a show.

What I know today is, that there are about 170 km to walk. I thought to do this in 10 steps. Zurich-Munich have been around 240 km, what I also did in 10 days. But with a certain distance to that I have to say, that it was slightly too ambitious, I was mostly focused on the physical parts of the walk, and not on the phenomenon of the surrounding. What was o.k. in these earlier times, because mostly it was just an experiment, if I'm able to walk such a piece of a way. Today I know that I could do that, so I don't have to proof it to myself anymore.

Excentric Zurich
But as I told above: the meat is weak. Except from the moral I can't benefit anymore from this trip, I have to build up the shape again.

Last time the training walks have been radiant guiding from my apartment into the outland of Zurich, each with a day walk length.

That I don't have to make the same ways again, I thought this time to walk around the boarders of the neighbour cities of Zurich. And because every second of these neighbours are sharing some parts of the boarders with each other I thought every one in anti clockwise direction. Anti clockwise because it should keep a scientific look, as I mean to remember from my student times, the standard direction in physics was like this. And when I stick to these directions, I don't have to go the same way two times in the same kind.
 

Primary it looks quite simple: 15 places, all with different challenges, some are uglier as others, all with different lengths. Starting on the east bank of the lake of Zurich:





- Zollikon: 13.48 km
- Maur: 23.02 km
- Fällanden: 11.8 km
- Dübendorf: 19 km
- Wallisellen: 15.28 km
- Opfikon: 12.24 km
- Rümlang: 17.72 km
- Regensdorf: 20.92 km
- Oberengstringen: 9.24 km
- Schlieren: 12.24 km
- Urdorf: 16.8 km
- Uitikon: 12.32 km
- Stallikon: 23.86 km
- Adliswil: 14.45 km
- Kilchberg: 8.44 km


I will take the public transport to get as close as possible to each boarder, and from there I will walk.
If I do every week one city, I have enough stations for almost four months.


Well, that looks very simple in the map above. But to make these calculations of the boarder lengths, I had to buy four maps, all with different scale:

For an example: I didn't found any map with the whole community of Maur on it, just for this town I had to buy two different maps. Well, maybe some people can't find anything exceptional on this declaration. But to them I have to say, that the Swiss are extraordinary proud on their topographic mapping, the resolution, the style, the quality - just name it, they are proud for any detail around national survey. But I know now: it might be better.