Magic Gate

History of the work

In front of the main entrance of the university's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Freiestrasse 3 stands the “Magisches Tor” (Magic Gate). It was made between 1987 and 1992; the city names Walter “Pips” Vögeli and Urs von Arx as its authors. The city's register describes its construction precisely: resin plates made of cycloaliphatic epoxy resin, aluminium hydroxide and synthetic pigments are glued onto a core of chrome steel. The Swiss art lexicon SIKART records the work as 460 by 743 by 36 centimetres and names the University of Bern as its owner.

Walter Vögeli, known as Pips, was born in Winterthur on 18 August 1929 and died in Bern on 29 January 2009. He attended the schools of applied arts in Zurich and Lucerne from 1949 to 1951 and, after a stay in Paris in 1952, moved to Bern. There he was one of the founders of Galerie 33. After tachist painting he turned to iron sculpture in 1955 and held the Federal Art Scholarship from 1957 to 1959.

SIKART describes his path to synthetic resin as follows: for the “Weg der Schweiz” (Path of Switzerland) at the 1964 national exhibition in Lausanne, Vögeli worked with plastic casts for the first time and afterwards stayed with synthetic materials. In the mid-1960s he was one of the first artists in Switzerland to use polyester and epoxy resins, and he adapted industrial processes for his studio. In 1970 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale. In the 1980s he also made large sculptures of chrome steel; among his works in Bern the lexicon expressly lists the university's chemistry institute.

The accessible sources say nothing about Urs von Arx's share in the gate; SIKART lists the work under Vögeli's name only. Standing in front of the entrance, you can clearly see how the two materials are combined: the metal core and the resin plates glued onto it.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · SIKART: Walter Vögeli (Michael Baumgartner) · SIKART: Magisches Tor (Werkeintrag) · Wikimedia Commons: Installation Magisches Tor (Walter Vögeli / Urs von Arx 1987-1992)