Swiss etc. by Nicolas Bourquin

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Stocktaking

Theory

Perspectives

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Bourquin, Ehmann, Woznicki Global States Leo Fabrizio Bunkers

Peter Spillmann A Nation to Keep Up With Gabi Vogt The Longest Ride…

Roland Müller The Sandwich-Girl

Laura Horelli Current Female Presidents (3/2001)

15 Michael Hardt Altered States

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Swiss etc.

- The fourth publication of the - etc series.

Arthur Kroeber Creatures of the Centre

Joël Tettamanti Qaqortoq

Alexander Missal Paradise Frozen

Clarissa Tossin Birth of a Nation Carlos Iglesias The Merging Frontier

www.etc-publications.com Issues that matter

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Fulguro Referee

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Swiss [swis] 1. Condition of a global player with exceptional status. 2. Attribute of a state suspended between sovereignty and interconnectedness. 3. Term for a territorial model that is applied to e.g. Special Economic Zones.

Maria Tackmann Talstraße

75B Holiday

Anton Moos Shadows of Poverty

Angelus Eisinger The Swiss State of Spatial Affairs

Immanuel Wallerstein States in an Age of Transition Lordy Rodriguez States Andrew Ross A Fundamental Compact between the State and Foreign Capital Michael Hermann Heiri Leuthold Political Landscape

Fulguro Territories

Katja Gretzinger Jumper - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swiss etc.

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Swiss etc.

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Stocktaking

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Stocktaking

Swiss etc.

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Global States An Introduction to “Swiss etc.”

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Notes

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Notes

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The term global cities has been coined in the sociological context in order -

to describe urban structures with fluid physical borders. See: Saskia Sas- -

sen’s “The Global City” (Princeton University Press, 2001).

A Nation to Keep Up With

“Swiss etc.” looks at Switzerland as a model state that is designated by both sovereignty as well as interconnectedness. Nicolas Bourquin, Sven Ehmann and Krystian Woznicki trace this dual pattern across the -globe.

The label “Switzerland” is continuously being stylised as a fetish object, - from the stickers which mark all kind of products with “Swiss made” to pitching labels such as Swissôtel, which use the flag as an icon. Peter - Spillmann reconstructs the “making of”. -

- 2.

In this context J.G. Ballard created with the fictitious business park “Eden -

Olympia” an apt metaphor. In his novel “Super Cannes” (New York: St. Mar- -

tin’s, 2001), he describes it as a neo-mythical birthplace of the world, de- -

picting it as a micro state designed with clinical precision. Geometrical -

parks, artificial lakes and sports complexes are arranged within the confi- -

Global capital does not simply eradicate state borders. After all, global capital depends upon states – their existence and well-being. Rather, global capital challenges the validity and the legitimacy of states. Hence, the current period of transition entails a renegotiation of the state unit. This process is mirrored last but not least in the foundation of micro states such as Special Economic Zones and satellite states such as Iraq, that foreign policy makers had conceived as the successful example for a fundamental revision of the Arabic region. In short, globalization, commonly associated with borderlessness, eventually requires borders, or well-defined territories that serve as testing grounds for the putatively biggest revolution of our times. Against this theoretical backdrop, “Swiss etc.” scrutinizes what perhaps could be called global states. Like global cities 1, global states are nodes in the flow of global capital: junctures, checkpoints, gateways. Unlike global cities, global states are incubation spaces, within which future societies are being modelled. The city-state Singapore best illustrates the difference. What appears, due to its spatial form and interconnectedness, to be a global city is, because of its organizational form, in fact a global state. Singapore pursues a so-called “effective democracy”, that is, a type of social control that can only be legitimised by the state. It is a type of social control finally that claims to foster global virtues, thereby producing the next generation of truly global citizens. By using Switzerland as an example, “Swiss etc.” explores this tale about social engineering and globality 2. Against the backdrop of its isolation, the Swiss state breeds highly adaptable citizens inside a bubble of pure will. Simultaneously, Switzerland cultivates interconnectedness – being listed among the Top 5 on the Globalization Index 3, the Swiss state presents itself as high-

nes of a corporate environment – a myriad of grey office towers, which host -

the world’s biggest conglomerates, while the flats and houses function as -

“service stations”, where the selected elite sleep and ablute.

ly permeable in terms of personal, technological and economic connections to the outside world. Although almost all relevant global players in the country are Swiss – using even the nation’s flag as their corporate icon – their origin is subordinate to the fact that Switzerland is a projection surface and a model state for globalization. Switzerland as an artificial stage set and as an exemplary state, setting standards world wide.

Aiguilles de Baulmes, VD, 2001

- 3.

“The 2004 Globalization Index Data and Methodology” reads as follows: -

“The A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine Globalization Index incorpora- -

tes 16 key indicators of global integration. The index quantifies economic -

integration by combining data on trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) and -

portfolio capital flows, and income payments and receipts, which include -

compensation and non-resident employees and income earned and paid -

on assets held abroad. It charts personal contact via levels of international -

travel and tourism, international telephone traffic, and cross-border trans- -

fers, including remittances. The index also gauges technological connec- -

Photos______________________________________________________________ -

tions by counting the number of Internet users and the Internet hosts and -

secure servers through which they communicate. And it also assesses po- -

litical engagement by taking stock of the number of international organi- -

zations and U.N. Security Council missions in which each country partici- -

pates, as well as the number of foreign embassies that each country hosts. -

The most recent data available for the full sample of 62 countries was col- -

lected from international organizations that include the World Bank, Inter- -

national Monetary Fund, and International Telecommunications Union.” -

Leo Fabrizio (1976) lives in Bottens and for the last four years has been working on “Bunkers”, a documentation of Swiss bunkers. He describes his general approach with the following words: “Switzerland is predominant in my study. Not only is it my homeland, but each element of these photographies has a relation with Switzerland. The landscape and particularly the mountain landscape is an extremely effective symbol in this country and is totally inherent to our identity. As for the bunkers, they represent a finely developed military system in Switzerland. The links one can elaborate between these two symbols are multiple and may raise interesting questions. I looked for the most spectacular bunkers, notably by their camouflage devices: true theatre scenery made with the utmost care. A quality indeed fully Swiss.” Since his graduation from the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (Ecal) Fabrizio’s work has been exhibited and published widely. Most recently he has been awarded at the Swiss Federal Contest of Design 2003. www.leofabrizio.com

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Grange-Neuve, VD, 1999

Gütsch, UR, 2002

The white cross on the red background is highly popular. The concept of “Swissness” does not evocate the fanatic patriotism of the Blocher-voter, who during the last vote once again made his presence felt. Rather a whole range of trends have amalgamated behind the symbol of the Swiss cross; the concepts ‘Switzerland’ or ‘Swiss’, the suggestive red-white contrast, reduced forms and essential, selected materials in graphics and design. The continuing hype of symbols and products, which together are associated and perceived as being ‘Swiss’, is not a coincidental, purely design-oriented fad. They would not function without the still real and existing state of ‘Switzerland’, somewhere in Europe. Farmer, soldiers and mountains - Switzerland does not exist! Although the Swiss cross appeared two years ago on t-shirts, caps and belts, Switzerland as a label is not an invention of the fashion scene. At the end of the 1990s and in shock over a highly politicised climate due to the world-wide media scandal of doing business with National socialist Germany, as well as the profits from secret bank accounts and insurance policies of Jewish clients of Swiss banks and insurance companies, the policy concerning information was reformed.

The new, state-financed organization is called ‘Presence Switzerland’. It has the mission to conjure into existence worldwide the coordinated integral and public presence of Switzerland. “Presence Switzerland conveys throughout the world accurate information about Switzerland, creates through the set-up of national and international networks understanding and interest for our country and supports through goal-directed activities the perception of Swiss diversity and attractiveness.” In order to reach the aimed-at goals of the Presence Switzerland’s mission statement are, among other projects in the planning, the “creation and upkeep of effective networks with current and future leaders of opinions” and the development of a “brainstormingcentre for the image of Switzerland outside of Switzerland”. Since then Presence Switzerland has been coordinating appearances at world exhibitions and is responsible for “the deliberate utilization of large events, such as the Olympic Games and World Championships”. Presence Switzerland’s declared public are “current and future leaders of opinions from the areas of politics, economy, media, culture and science - professors as well as youth and students.” The creators of culture have always played a key role in the transference of knowledge about and sympathy for Switzerland. This was already exemplarily shown in 1992 on the occasion of the World-Fair in Seville. The Swiss refrained

from the traditional show of strength and set up a staged art exhibition conceived by Harald Szeemann. The radically cultural concept set off itself vehement debates - above all in Switzerland. In many offensive attacks, conservative and right wing members of parliament tried to prevent the opening of the pavilion. The picture of Switzerland that was being shown was in their opinion elitist, insultingly one-sided and could not be understood by the public. The most discussed artwork was a painting by Ben Vautier. It showed in black writing on a white ground the handwritten sentence “la Suisse n’existe pas” - Switzerland does not exist. The work played upon the historically conceptualised concept of Switzerland, the “will-power nation” as well as a whole chain of literary statements, which had in the past repeatedly described Switzerland as an “exception” and as an “artificial” nation among the great cultures of Europe. With “la Suisse n’existe pas” Vautier brought the 150 year-old overweening doubt concerning Switzerland’s very right of existence ironically to a head and at the same time revived the long obsolete concept of state as a nation and as a homogenous place with a predominate culture. “La Suisse n’existe pas”, however, could have been interpreted in 1992 in another way, coming as it did shortly after the rejection of the admission into the EEA (European Economic Area) 1. “Switzerland does not exist” can be read as the statement

- 1.

On January 1st 1994 the agreement over the EWR (EEA), which Switzer- -

land did not join, came into effect. On May 2nd 1992 it had been ratified -

by the 12 member states of the European Community, today the European -

Union, and the 7 members of the European Association of Free Trade. In -

the vote over the plebiscite of December 6th 1992 the Swiss people rejec- -

ted the ratification.

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- Gabi Vogt (1976) - lives and works in Zurich. She received her photography diploma in 2003 at the HGKZ. Her work has appeared in several publications including NZZ Folio and was shown in exhibitions in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany. The photographs published here - are taken from the series “The Longest Ride I Ever Took Was from Fislisbach to Frick and - Back Again on the Same Evening” (2003), which she produced in various Swiss villages. www.gabivogt.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------