Treppstein is a legend. Treppstein used to be world-famous! … at the message salon.
Treppstein are Selina Trepp and Esther Eppstein. The two women first met at the Kanzleiflohmarkt in Zurich in 1995 and immediately decided to plan a joint project. Their motto is to create art themselves and have fun doing it.
The first joint project, “Bodenlose Tiefpreise” (Rock-bottom Prices), in 1995, is a collection of “cheap art” available for purchase, created by and for friends, and staged in a fictional flat within Esther Eppstein’s art space “Bilderladen Monotony” on Zurich’s Rennweg.
The young women are now thinking about becoming artists. They’ve come up with ‘Treppstein’. Is it art? There’s no definition for it; later, they’ll call their genre ‘cheap happenings’ – interactive DIY happenings with a touch of cheek. It’s all about the moment, and everyone who’s there becomes part of something … bigger!
Their first coup – “On 9 December 1995, Selina Trepp and Esther Eppstein want a slice of the pie” – marks the beginning of the story of Treppstein. Through courage, charming genius and a sense of timing, Treppstein become successful artists whose triumphs in international art galleries are celebrated with wild abandon at the message salon thanks to further serendipities and coolness (Treppstein Cool 1996) and who reach dizzying heights with their conquest of the film industry (Treppstein Casting, 1997) and the production of the dancefloor record (Treppstein The Soundtrack, 1997). In 1998, Treppstein recover from the rigours of success in Appenzell, at the message salon holiday camp in the message salon caravan.
Since then, Treppstein have been a rare sight in the art world. They were last seen in 2023 at the message salon campsite, next to the message salon caravan, at the Migros Museum in Zurich.