“message salon so long” is based on Esther Eppstein’s message salon archive and is a kind of personal retrospective on the history of message salon, as well as a look back at the art space as an important and influential venue and breeding ground for the Zurich art scene. “message salon so long” is also a view of the salon as a Gesamtkunstwerk and Esther Eppstein’s subjective, biographical and artistic reflection on art and life in the city of Zurich.
Live at the opening:
Arthur and Lukas
The two musicians, Arthur Fornallaz and Lukas Müller, frequently performed at Perla-Mode between 2006 and 2013, either live as Mr Soul or as DJs spinning vinyl records. At the exhibition, they will be playing live cover versions of songs ranging from Leonard Cohen to Gnarls Barkley, against a backdrop of Esther Eppstein’s projected Perla-Mode albums.
Ruth Erdt delivers a ceremonial speech
The artist and photographer Ruth Erdt held her first exhibition at the message salon in 1997. Ruth Erdt gives a personal speech, based on a text written especially for this occasion, about her connection to the message salon, her friendship with Esther Eppstein, and about making art and life as a female artist in the city of Zurich.
Chritz & Chratz & Angela, thirty years ago and now at the message salon
To mark the opening of the first message salon on 4 April 1996, Chritz & Chratz & Angela (Alain Kupper, Kay-Zee aka Patrick Hollenstein and Angela Giger) played a legendary concert in the small shop on Ankerstrasse. The current exhibition will once again open with a concert by Chritz & Chratz & Angela, who have reunited after a twenty-year hiatus to perform a reworking of their legendary 1996 concert – newly arranged, newly interpreted and with the same verve and joy in the music and the band, so that this too will be a legendary concert!
The artistic collaborations in the exhibition:
Maria Pomiansky
The triptych – the three oil paintings by Maria Pomiansky and Esther Eppstein – was created between 2020 and 2023 during portrait sessions lasting several hours in Maria Pomiansky’s studio and at the message salon embassy Réception on Köchlistrasse. The paintings depict stages in an artist’s life; they are both an artistic collaboration and a performative scenography, an ode to artistic friendship, and a reference to the atelier, painting and its history in art.
Amos Angeles
The multimedia artist, who has been active at the message salon since the Perla-Mode era, is presenting the Space Edition of his fruit bread ‘Goldstei’ to mark the salon’s 30th anniversary – a work of art with a unique history and impact. The significance of these stones may be linked to the recently rediscovered correspondence between the world-famous Salonière Gertrude Stein and the city’s own well-known Salonière, Esther Eppstein. The Goldstei Special Edition is available exclusively at the message salon, in a limited edition of 50 pieces.
Verdandi Lab
The perfumer Tanski Kulminska, also known as Verdandi Lab, was commissioned by Esther Eppstein to create a fragrance that captures her role as an artist in the message salon. The fragrance ‘La reine des salons’ is an exclusive perfume, handcrafted by Tanski Kulminska in her perfume laboratory and composed solely of the finest and most exquisite ingredients: Turkish rose, Alaskan cedarwood, vetiver, patchouli, Italian bergamot, Sichuan pepper, Indian cumin and sakura … The exclusive perfume ‘La reine des salons’ is available only at the message salon, where you can try it and purchase it in the elegant packaging of a photo archive box, in a limited and signed edition of just 30 pieces.
Events at the exhibition
Esther Eppstein is present at the message salon on Wednesdays from 3–6pm and on Saturdays from 2–5pm
Saturday 10 October, 4pm
‘Esther’ by Maria Pomiansky, zine launch
Wednesday 4 November, 6pm
At the Salon – Esther Eppstein in conversation with Susanna Koeberle. An event held by Omanut, Zurich
Saturday 14 November, 4–8pm
Trance Magazine – the message salon edition. Zine workshop with Moe Arnold and Valentina Stieger, DJ set by Maria Arnold and Noah Item
Friday 20 November, doors open at 7.30pm, concert at 8pm
Spectralina (Selina Trepp and Dan Bitney), audiovisual concert. Admission: 20 CHF
Wednesday 16 December, 7pm
Tsvinglishtras – An evening focusing on Esther’s father, Paul Eppstein, born on 16 December 1917 on Zwinglistrasse, and a lecture by Mario Lüscher, art historian, on Paul’s close friendship with the Zurich sculptor Hans Aeschbacher (talk in German).
Saturday 9 January, from 4pm
Closing event … message salon, so long …
Esther Eppstein thanks:
the artists whom I had the opportunity to interview whilst researching for the exhibition: Amos Angeles, Stini Arn, Stefan Davi, Ruth Erdt, Michael Günzburger, Zuni Halpern, San Keller, Alain Kupper, Roy Menachem Markovich, Edit Oderbolz, Maria Pomiansky, Saskja Rosset, Alexis Saile, Kerim Seiler, Benjamin Sommerhalder and Selina Trepp.
Many thanks for your help in planning and staging the exhibition: Alain Kupper, Benjamin Sommerhalder, Valentina Stieger, Zuni Halpern, Saskja Rosset, Lev Merlin Platt, Pino Wegmüller, Sandra Bradvic, Tatiana Kulminska, Amos Angeles, Kerim Seiler, Rémi Jaccard, Sämi Müller, Monika Schori, Alexis Saile, Kasia Jackowska, Stella Giger.
Many thanks for the support of the exhibition: videocompany.ch; Strauhof Literature Museum, Zurich; Kunsthaus Zürich; Bistro Venus Oerlikon; Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.