Zurich-West Zurich since 2001

In the so-called trendy districts – and Zurich-West is one of those areas in transition from being a former industrial   district to a place where urbanity is defined as an integration of working, residing and going out – it is possible to observe reconfiguration and altered utilization occurring over a relatively short time. In the transitional period, already converted zones border on wasteland or abandoned industrial buildings, alternative forms of utilization exist alongside newly occupied, recently built office buildings, occupied houses stand next to cool and chic apartments.

In her unsentimental, long-term study, Nicola Meitzner visits again and again the changing sites in Zurich-West. She moves along the break lines where the old is still standing, because the new has not yet been completed. But the construction equipment is already making its approach, and the circumscribed idylls will soon come to an end. Traffic is omnipresent; its axes, feeder roads, tracks, under- and overpasses do not take a detour even around the new buildings. At some point in time, the old industry- and storage-halls in the recesses between the transportation axes will be replaced by new office buildings or lofts. But the new district is still a promise. Whether it will ever be awakened to new life is an open question, for the construction workers, office employees, passers-by, merchants and residents who are portrayed by Nicola Meitzner are all temporary users. They lend facial features to the transition; whether they will be the actual face of Zurich-West remains to be seen.

This project will be continued until at least 2015.
                                                                                                    Tomas Kadlcik