Biography
Rémy Zaugg was a Swiss painter, conceptual artist and exhibition organizer.
Rémy Zaugg – a descendant of Mennonites – attended the Basel School of Applied Arts after graduating from high school in Porrentruy. In 1970 and 1971 he was awarded the Swiss Federal Art Scholarship. Zaugg lived and worked in Basel and in Pfastatt, near Mulhouse. From 1969, he worked for several years with the artist René Myrha.
In his conceptual works, Zaugg dealt with perception, which is not limited to seeing, but sees people in a reciprocal relationship to the world. His work includes paintings, works on paper, sculptures in public spaces, art-in-architecture projects (Basel-Stadt State Archives, Aargauer Kunsthaus) and architectural designs.
His theoretical discussions on art, in particular the book Das Kunstmuseum, das ich mir erträume. Oder Der Ort des Werkes und des Menschen (1987), is considered a standard work by art connoisseurs, art historians and artists. In 1990 he was awarded the Art Prize of the City of Basel.
His collaboration with the architects Herzog & de Meuron, with whom he realized around 15 projects in the years before his death, including the extension to the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau, attracted international attention. The Studio Rémy Zaugg in Mulhouse-Pfastatt, designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, was presented to Herzog & de Meuron when they were awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2001.
In addition to his artistic activities, he was also active as an exhibition organizer for the Alberto Giacometti retrospective in Paris in 1991.