Message salon embassy’s second guest, Rich Bott, has just moved into the artist studio of the 25hours hotel. This is not the Angeleno artist’s first time on Langstrasse or in Zurich: in 2008 Rich Bott exhibited his works at the message salon in the Perla-Mode space.
In 1995 Rich Bott and fellow American artist Jim Fetterley formed the artistic duo Animal Charm, which is still active today and which is among the pioneers of video footage collage. Animal Charm show their video art live at art and music festivals, present multimedia installations in galleries and art museums and produce video clips, for the likes of the Californian outsider pop star Ariel Pink.
In the 90s Animal Charm used found VHS tapes such as home and instructional videos or recordings of TV shows, news, entertainment, talk and advice shows. They also deployed vinyl LPs and cassette tapes. Nowadays they mainly treat the internet and platforms such as YouTube or Instagram as an inexhaustible treasure trove for their art, which deconstructs the madness, aesthetics and absurdity of American media today. In his residency at message salon embassy Rich Bott will attempt to find the absurdity in the Swiss present. An American in Europe, he ambles through antique shops and flea markets, finds catalogues, magazines or European vinyl; collects and invents Zurich-German terminology and tests Switzerland on its folklore and everyday consumer kitsch. He complements his investigation with bratwurst and rösti, always on the lookout for a “Geissengeist”, a spirit animal.
Rich Bott casts a Californian tourist’s gaze on Langstrasse and Niederdorf, sees what locals have long since stopped noticing, and translates this in his studio and in his notebook into drawings, collages and wordplay, or posts his daily photos and videos on Instagram. At a public event on 29 June, message salon embassy and Rich Bott will present a zine featuring current drawings, found objects and texts created during his stay on Langstrasse.
From 20 to 28 May Rich Bott will be a member of the jury of the Videoex international experimental film and video festival in Zurich.
Thursday, 29 June, from 6 to 10 pm, zine vernissage with Rich Bott in suite 724 of the 25hours Hotel on Langstrasse.