Historic city viaduct has been given a new artistic look

The railway arches in Zug were given a modern makeover in 2006. Now that only fragments of the work remain, an artists' collective from Zug has repainted the walls.

For around 130 years, the historic SBB viaduct with its round arches has stretched from Zug railway station through the town of Zug, towards the Postplatz. In 2006, Zug artist Samuel Haettenschweiler (*1976) used acrylic and emulsion paint to apply text collages in black letters of different sizes to some of the arches that are closed off by walls. There were twelve of them in total at the time.

Years later, only a few of these remained, partly due to conversion work and structural changes to the viaduct arches. A redesign was thereby needed. "With a redesign, these unnoticed grey corners in the city of Zug are revitalised through art, receive an upgrade and are thereby seen once again in everyday life," said Iris Weder, Head of Culture in the city of Zug, in a press release in April of this year.

Pirmin Beeler and Flurin Forster from the Art Grid artists' collective carried out the redesign
Eva Kasser from the Culture Department of the City of Zug hosted the vernissage                
Photos: Stefan Kaiser

The city of Zug commissioned the Zug-based artists' collective ArtGrid to redesign some of the arches of the city viaduct. Flurin Forster and Pirmin Beeler redesigned the closed arches of the city viaduct, calling their work "changing murals". "Changes are part of the concept. Maintenance work on the walls, scribbles and structural changes do not destroy the artwork, but change it," explained Flurin Forster from ArtGrid.

The now completed project "Murals in Transition" was ceremoniously presented to the public at a vernissage on Saturday, 18 May.