On 4 April 1996, Esther Eppstein opened the first message salon in a former mirror shop at Ankerstrasse 6 in the Dreieck residential district of Zurich Aussersihl. The art space soon became a meeting place and a driving force behind Zurich’s reinvigorated art scene of the late 1990s. The vernissage, the social gathering, the creation of a place and a scene, was Esther Eppstein’s artistic focus from the very beginning. Using an analogue Olympus miu camera, she documented the events and the people in her salon. Everything is do-it-yourself and low-budget; production budgets are unheard of and there is no funding. Money is generated through an improvised bar and the sale of some art. Initially intended to last three months, the art space message salon remained active on Ankerstrasse for two years.
In the summer of 1998, Esther Eppstein presented the publication “message salon, Ankerstrasse 6” as part of the exhibition “Freie Sicht aufs Mittlemeer” (“Unobstructed view of the Mediterranean Sea”) curated by Bice Curiger. Part of the publication is the VHS videotape “Der message salon Fotoband” (The message salon photo tape), with photographs by Esther Eppstein and sound by Stini Arn.
“message salon, Ankerstrasse 6, 8004 Zürich. Der message salon Fotoband, 49 Vernissagen, April 96 bis Oktober 97” , Digitised from SIK Art Lexicon, 2016 ©Esther Eppstein
Publication: Esther Eppstein “message salon Ankerstrasse 6”. Idea and concept by Esther Eppstein and Alexis Saile. VHS video: photo by Esther Eppstein, sound by Stini Arn. Catalogue: photographs by Manuela Ledermann, texts by Peter Weber, Pipilotti Rist, Simon Maurer, Kerim Seiler, and others. Graphic design by Alexis Saile. Andreas Züst Verlag/Scalo Verlag, Zurich, 1998.