SWISS MADE - GROUP SHOW

50 years of graffiti - what now?
Swiss Made

Graffiti has spread from America to Switzerland, when tags, throw ups, pieces and style writing appeared in public space. Over the last 50 years, a novel, vibrant and dynamic art form has emerged that has its origins in graffiti, but has long since ceased to be so called. During the summer exhibition entitled Swiss Made Kolly Gallery will present the diverse and individual results of contemporary Swiss artist, which were and art part if the graffiti movement in Switzerland. The exhibition is displayed throughout August in Zurich and Geneva.

According Beat Suter and Sigi ‚DARE‘ von Koeding, Biel and Zurich were the first Swiss cities in which American graffiti was introduced in 1984. The first murals and pieces appeared a long the train lines. In 1985 and 86, the graffiti movement reached Basel. In the Swiss capital Bern, the first pieces were sprayed in 1984 and the first longer walls were created in 1985 in the districts Wyler and Marzili. In Geneva the first tags appeared in 1984.
In all cities, graffiti was spread mainly through the then iconic films such as Wild Style! (1982), Style Wars (1983) and Beat Street (1984). At that time, there was still little contact with other scenes from other cities. In the nineties, Basel became the most active Swiss graffiti city, on the one hand because of the wide availability of surfaces and on the other hand because of the relatively low fines on the „line”. In the book “Swiss Graffiti” (1995) Zurich was named as a typical “bomber” city. Bombing refers to rapid illegal spraying, which was particularly popular in Zurich.

Artist presented:  Thierry Furger, Maja Hürst, Gaspard Louane, Michel FR, Sweetuno and Sigi ‚DARE‘ von Koeding.

Due to the current situation the exhibition can be visited by appointment only.