Group of columns

History of the work

At the corner of Schwarztorstrasse, Belpstrasse and Haslerstrasse stand three coloured columns of enamelled sheet steel. Marcel Wyss made the group in 1981; the city’s building inventory calls it the “Farb-Spiral-Säulengruppe” (colour spiral column group). According to Wikidata the three columns are 3, 6 and 12 metres high.

Artwork and building were created together. The Bern architect Frank Geiser built the block from 1978 to 1981 for what was then the Union Bank of Switzerland: a cubic reinforced-concrete building wrapped in a curtain wall, in a striking blue typical of the period. The sculpture stands on the central axis of the building; the inventory describes it as part of a unit that defines the space together with the building. At the other end of Schwarztorplatz the former high-rise of Radio Schweiz AG forms its counterpart.

In 1998/99 the building was given external sun blinds for UBS. In 2010/11 it was renovated and converted into a training centre of the Bern University of Applied Sciences; this is why the group of columns now stands in front of a university building rather than a bank.

Wyss (1930–2012) was a graphic designer and an artist of concrete art. After an apprenticeship as a graphic designer in Bern he met Dieter Roth at the school of applied arts. From 1953 to 1964 he published the artists’ magazine “spirale” with Roth and Eugen Gomringer, and according to Wikipedia he shaped its design more than anyone. He designed numerous company logos, including the emblem of the Swiss Werkbund in 1962. Besides posters and books, SIKART lists wooden reliefs, collages, metal sculpture, kinetic works in acrylic glass and art in architecture.

Frank Geiser, the building’s architect, also designed the gibb footbridge in the Lorraine district, where Max Neuhaus’s sound installation can be heard. On site, look at the group from Belpstrasse, where the three heights side by side are clearest.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Schwarztorstrasse 48 · Wikipedia (de): Marcel Wyss (Künstler) · SIKART: Marcel Wyss · Wikidata: Farb-Spiral-Säulengruppe (Q65007224) · Wikimedia Commons: Stahlblechplastik Farb-Spiral-Säulengruppe (Marcel Wyss 1981)