First Cuts

Independent and reflective, this artist book is a new take on the design principles of First Cuts by the artist Harald F. Muller. It presents 15 photographic appropriations by Muller that have been installed at Zurich's Prime Tower, the tallest building in Switzerland, realized by the architects Gigon/Guyer. The photographs deal with pioneering technical, sporting and cultural achievements that created new realities. Not only do they point retrospectively to Modernism's euphoria of progress, but they also include the latest scientific research and timeless modernity, with motifs such as CERN or constructivist works. Printed onto sound-absorbent sheets of metal with hole matrix on the interior walls of the building, the works refuse a passive decorative function and instead make an architectural proposition relating to abstraction and atomism. Detailed texts by the editors Gerd Blum and Johan Frederik Hartle elucidate First Cuts in relation to Harald F. Muller's artistic practice and their cultural-historical context. The book translates First Cuts' design principles into the framework of a unique book object.