Intertale/Eutopia Stop 1: Pfyn, Suisse
Breakfast in Pfyn with Reto Müller and Alex Meszmer
Pfyn (say Pfeen) is in the Kanton Thurgau, close to the German border at Lake Konstanz. Pfyn has around 2000 inhabitants, but that number is vastly increasing due to high housing prices in Zürich. With home office trends, more and more people are moving from there to Pfyn and then commute.
Pfyn owes its name to Ad Fines, as it was a Roman frontier outpost (Latin: ‘at the borders’). I stayed with Reto Müller and Alex Mezmer, a couple who moved there in the early 2000s and since built up the ZEITGARTEN (Timegarden), a communication and collecting platform for gardening, history and storytelling of Pfyners. Working closely with the local archaeological department they have set up an extensive archive underpinned by a range of projects that bring history and community and art together, called the ‘transitory museum’. Despite the smallness of the place, the village and its surrounding has offered them ongoing fodder for communal investigation which even led to them being Switzerland’s capital of culture in 2012.
At the heart of it is a continuously growing archive of stories, images and videos, which are digitised and today show 5000+ photos clustered around contemporary themes like identity, family tragedies, art or racism, work and army. The images and stories are donated by local Pfyners, which then turn into collective events, such as bringing a column from Rom in collaboration with an artist from Italy, as a ‘compensation’ for colonialisation times of Cesar and friends.
While I was there, we arranged for a Walkshop, on the theme of the border, the periphery, the in-between at the edge of the world / Spaziergang am Ende der Welt/Walk at the end of the world on geographic/ environmental/social boundaries. Thinking about the fact that global influences do not stop at small places. We crowned the day with an Aperó, where people brought some food that they would like to eat if tomorrow was the end of the world. I made a Tiramisu.
Our nights were long in Pfyn. Fuelled by the Bavarian beer from across the border, our conversations centred around art in the rural context. I brought out my 16 Principle questions providing a lot of sentiments. We clearly are not alone in our challenges. As a couple they have their on and offline issues with neighbours and institutions such as the nearby church (which interestingly is in parity catholic and protestant since Zwingli times. Since the reformation both congregations share one church (but today they have two websites). Like I during my work in Huntly, Alex and Reto both are in ample local boards and gremia (committees), simply to show their deep commitment to the place.
Thänks Reto and Alex for being such great hosts, for all the inspiring conversations on all things art in rural context, the beer, the cheese and the Hirsch.
