Harald Naegeli

Born in 1939 in Zurich, Harald Naegeli was known as the Sprayer of Zurich in the late ’70s. For political reasons, he had distanced himself from his home town for more than three decades. Now, he returned from Düsseldorf (Germany) – and with him came his drawings. These drawings were hardly ever seen in Zurich, let alone exhibited publicly as a comprehensive retrospective. Therefore, it is not surprising that only a few insiders know that the notorious Sprayer of Zurich did not limit himself to urban space. Being the silent, reserved und inconspicuous artist that he is, he created an impressive oeuvre of drawings over the years. This oeuvre is at the heart of this exhibit. To provide an extensive representation, the Musée Visionnaire presents it in three stages, each focusing on different themes. The start of the exhibitions will be announced on the homepage and in the newsletter.

Several dozen spray figures by Harald Naegeli pop- ulated the parking garage at ETH Zurich after the late 1970s. Since 2021, an extensive renovation of the garage has taken place. Although some figures had to give way to the redesign, a large part will be retained. On the occasion of the reopening of the ETH Garage in the fall of 2022, the Musée Vision- naire put together an exhibition with objects (e.g. by Ruggero Tropeano Architects) that document the complex renovation process. As an exclusive novelty and real museum sensation, three cut-out Naegeli graffitis are on display. They were removed from the wall by a team of conservators as part of the conservation work. The largest piece measures 290 x 230 cm and weighs 450 kilograms! In addi- tion to this complex process, further conservation processes of Naegeli’s art and work related to his art took place in the ETH Garage. This work in- cludes photographs by Pascal Sigrist; a selection of his photos is on exhibition in the MV.

The exhibition “Graffiti in a Museum!?” addresses the question of art in public space and asks how the ephemeral art of graffiti can be conserved, wheth- er it should be conserved at all, and what happens when graffiti is taken out of its context. Does graf- fiti belong in a museum?

As a supplement to the exhibition, we offer guided tours through the ETH Garage in order to experi- ence the existing works on site.