The Average as Norm is a polyphonic critical analysis of upgrading processes in Zurich, a city that has few options at its disposal for countering the pressure of rising property prices, and other European metropolises that are feeling the effects of neoliberal urban policies. The book’s starting point was a sculptural work by Michael Meier & Christoph Franz that fashioned a 1,100 kg crane ballast out of the rubble from a demolished workers’ house and has since been used on a Zurich building site. The artists invited writers from the fields of architecture, town planning, and urbanism to reflect on the phenomenon of ordinariness in modern-day construction processes. Like the sculpted concrete weight, the book can be seen as an “object”, in which an artistic work is related to urban discourses in terms of aesthetics, economics, and content structure.
With contributions by: Georg Aerni, Nicola Behrens, André Bideau, Bit-Tuner, Elisabeth Blum, Heike Delitz, Vera Gloor, Erik Göngrich, Maren Harnack, Martin Hilti, Andreas Hofer, Ernst Hubeli, Axel Humpert, San Keller, Philipp Klaus, Monika Klingele Frey, Michael Obrist, Markus Peter, Manfred Russo, Heiko Schmid, Michel Schneider, Tatjana Schneider, Silke Steets, Martin Sturzenegger, Kai Vöckler, Hans Widmer und Benjamin von Wyl.
