"the master's vision" "a film by erich schmid" "Eroticism is one of the bases... ofartistic creation." "Beauty and eroticism are linked." "Love is the basis of life;" "its opposite leads to destruction." "for Angela" "Max Bill... worked in this house... in Zumikon, near Zurich." "He was... a painter, a sculptor, a typographer, and a designer." "He designed... this building for himself in 1967." "His widow created a foundation... and completed the art collection... he had left behind." "Richard Serra dedicated his... iron sculpture to Bill's house." "It was unveiled in 1999... with the "Ursonate"." "Angela Thomas, art historian," "Max Bill's widow, opened her house to the public." "She has withdrawn to write..." "Max Bill's biography." "I met Max Bill in 1974... and was with him for 20 years," "until his death in 1994." "When I met him," "I started taking pictures." "My first portraits of him in Tessin." "I photograph his sculpture... in Hamburg." "Then, in Ulm where... the pillars are installed." "Andy Warhol comes to Zurich... and makes portraits of Max Bill." "I photographed him in the workshop." "One day, Max Bill showed me... where he had grown up." "It was a house... next to the railway station in Winterthur." "During World War I, wounded soldiers passed... through this station." "His mother gave fruit squash... to the wounded." "Max still remembered... the soldiers' groans." "For him as a child, trains must have been fascinating." "He saw... the geometrical timbers and the tracks." "His father was the station master." "This had an influence... on his later work." "Max Bill often visited the museum... in Winterthur with his parents." "His mother adored Hodler." "His father was a member of the art club." "ln 1918 Max Bill... looked at this painting." "Max said: "He is in the desert"." "And his father understood... that Max was saying:" ""It is disastrous"." "So he slapped him... telling him that you should not... speak badly about art." "Max never forgot this slap." "But by looking at it closely, it's indeed a painting set in the desert." "At 15, Max Bill stole pulp fiction." "His parents then sent him... to an approved school." "His uncle, Emst Geiger, a well known painter, gave Max Bill... his first paintbox." "At the approved school... he started painting." "I wanted to paint, but my father said..." "I should learn... a proper craft." "I then started an apprenticeship... as a silversmith." "In 1925, Max Bill is invited to Paris... to exhibit his school work... at the Int." "Exhibition... of Decorative Arts." "His works were selected... by the artist Sophie Taeuber Arp." "Max Bill was 17." "At the same exhibition," "Max Bill saw..." "Le Corbusier's revolutionary architecture." "It was in contrast to... the National Museum... which houses the Zurich school of arts." "Like Max Bill, Gottfried Honegger, another concrete artist, attended this school." "Max Bill was handsome... and he enjoyed life..." "He wasn't at school very often." "He got problems with the teachers." "Once, I'd come late... from the carnival, and the director told me... that the letter expelling me from school... had been sent by the office." "That was in 1926." "I was 18." "My father said:" ""Now, you're nothing!"" "And I said: "I'm going to the Bauhaus."" "He said: "Who will pay for it?"" "And I said: "I pay half and you pay half."" "Because I had won a prize... with a lot of cash... by making a poster." "So I joined the Bauhaus." "The art school in Dessau... built by Walter Gropius, was an architectural milestone." "The "Bauhaus" fumiture, objects, architecture, textiles and metals... changed the aesthetic setup... of the whole world." "There were about... 120 students at the Bauhaus." "They came from everywhere... because it was an experiment." "We were at odds... with the outside world, and wanted to improve the world." "I painted with Kandinsky... and in Paul Klee's workshop." "With Klee..." "I always spoke in Swiss German." "I had done numerous... watercolours." "Moholy-Nagy... showed me a Picasso saying:" ""Picasso has used the perfect... stroke of the brush for the scale, and he hasn't enlarged the drawing... nor in any way imitated it."" "I was 19 or 18, and I was really... impressed by it." "Bill also joined the stage... and had a bad accident." "A schoolmate fell off the trapeze... and broke half of Max Bill's teeth." "This forced him to cut short... his studies." "The consequences were... huge dentist's bills, and he got into debts with his father." "He was given an artificial palate... for the rest of his life." "But he never complained." "His special characteristic... was that he was able to... transform difficulties... into something creative, like this painting done after the accident:" ""siamese twin-acrobats"." "His parents divorced," "and Max gave his mother a watercolour... in these tender colors." "Most of his Bauhaus teachers... had to emigrate." "The Nazis closed down the Bauhaus, and some of his classmates... were killed by the Nazis." "The art of the Bauhaus... was called "degenerate art"." "The first thing Hitler did... in 1933... was to close down the Bauhaus." "Because he knew that art... was more than just decoration." "He knew - and so did Stalin - that art... has a political impact." "So they spoke of "degenerate art"." "The true German art... wants to come together with the people." "German artistic genius... bows down with respect." "Bill immediately joined... the resistance... against fascism." "He created diverse publications... as a typographer." "For the Republicans... during the Spanish Civil War." "He also did the typography... for the "Nation"... which, despite the censorship, reported the Nazi atrocities... during World War II." "The editor, was the famous Peter Surava." "He chose the old script... as a camouflage... because these books were... smuggled into Nazi Germany... and revealed the atrocities... in the concentration camps." "Max Bill designed 2 books for Silone." "Ignazio Silone was a communist." "He was co-founder of the party... and was on Mussolini's black list." "But he had been ousted from the party." "Silone was the most read... exiled writer in Switzerland." "The estate behind this gate belonged... to the lawyer Wladimir Rosenbaum... before his anti-fascist support... were to lead him to..." "Swiss jail and impoverish him." "The elite of the intellectual... resistance met here every week." "Out of our conversations... sprang the idea... of creating a magazine." "Among my friends was... a nice young designer." "Max Bill was in charge... of the artistic organisation of our magazine." "I remember our first trip... to Aarau very well." "Our magazine..." ""Information" was printed there." "Oh, yes, Aarau." "I was still very young." "I had no work." "I was in graphic design... and not in architecture at the time." "I have a few folios with me." "Those are the first folios... we had done:" "The unemployed, then the Swiss production of war material," "the rise of Hitler." "It was in September 1932." "I wasn't even 24." "When Bill returned from the Bauhaus, he lived close to... the artists' café Odeon." "There he met... the actress Maria Benz from Mulhouse." "Bill called her Nusch." "As a foreigner, she got problems with the police." "When she was about to be expelled, they decided to get married." "Dear Father," "I hope you won't be too surprised." "We want to get married." "She worked for me, and this will only be possible again... when she is a Swiss citizen." "Dear Max," "I herewith send you back... the photo of the prostitute... you've chosen as your wife." "Because of his large debts..." "Bill had to give in." "Nusch went to Paris... where she met Paul Eluard, the Resistance poet and friend of Picasso." "During the Occupation," "Nusch worked for the Resistance." "When she bought a dog... she called it Billy." "Nusch was Max Bill's first great love." "He gave her that name... and she kept it." "She entered history... under her pet name Nusch... due to Picasso's portraits of her." "Max Bill never disclosed... his activities during... the anti-fascist resistance." "But he told me privately... he had housed an emigrant... in the '30s." "Denounced by an anonymous letter, he was arrested." "Hewas called Alfred Thomas." "Because Max Bill had also... hidden other refugees, he was charged with a heavy fine." "Wanted by the Gestapo," "Alfred Thomas was expelled... and was never seen again." "With his wife, Binia," "Max Bill also allowed to stay... in his house..." "Friedrich Vordemberge Gildewart... and his Jewish wife Leda, before they fled to Amsterdam, then the artists Max Emst," "Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber Arp. had introduced Max Bill... to the "abstraction création" group in Paris." "Bill met the famous..." "Piet Mondrian and Georges Vantongerloo." "Vantongerloo and Max Bill... remained close friends until his death." "When Max Bill's met Binia... she was already a legend." "She already had an aesthetic... attitude as a photographer." ""Binia Bill" " Photographs"... is framed... in the museum of art in Aarau:" "My mother's first photos, taken in the '30s." "In 1930, she was in Berlin, at the Itten school." "She was 4 years older than my father, and they married in 1931." "Binia Bill took photos... for my father's advertising." "The musicians are... the same as the ones overthere." "Max Ernst working... on his painting in the Corso." "The Corso Theatre was... also important for Max Bill:" "He created this graphic art there." "The 1936 Milan Triennial, with the first version of his..." ""Endless Ribbon" - a sculpture on which my father... worked until his death." "In 1930, Theo von Doesburg... publishes a manifesto in Paris:" ""Concrete Art"." "I later applied it... in the catalogue... for an exhibition in Zurich." "Here I read two sentences:" ""The means of concrete art... are colours, space, light and movement."" ""By working on these elements, we create new realities."" ""Abstract ideas... before only existing... in the mind are made visible... in a concrete form."" "You have to imagine Bill... in the context of the time." "Before the war, nationalism in Zurich was strong, the National Exhibition," "isolation, the army, the national anthem." "And this didn't match with..." "Bill's international concepts." "His works weren't issued... at the National Exhibition." "Fine art in Switzerland... was very conservative." "And then Bill comes... with his concrete essential concepts... which can have an effect... on objects of daily life." "Bill embarked on it." "But he was not alone very long, we can see it here at the museum." "Around his sculpture hang... works of the Allianz co-operative." "Allianz was founded in 1938... and confronted the conservative art... with something dramatically new." "Abstract painting wasn't accepted... at the 1939 National Exhibition." "It's clearly... an artistic domain which was... rejected by the bourgeois public... as being snobbish, decadent, leftist," "dangerous or subversive... in Switzerland and the countries around..." "The movement... under the name Allianz... became powerful... in the '40s... because of its strong position... against fascism." "We can see in the works... a very potent period." "Sophie Taeuber had just fled... occupied France... with Jean Arp... and she stayed with the Bills." "It was on 13 th January 1943." "There was "Stalingrad", fuel was rationed... and the guest room was cold." "Sophie said: "I don't mind... a bed that's a bit cold"." "In the morning, my wife... found Sophie dead in her bed." "By herside... were some books." "And in the stove, burnt papers." "The valves were closed," "It created carbon monoxide." "And she had fallen asleep." "The death of his former patron... affected Max Bill even more... as she had died in his own house." "And this... rubbed off on his work." "After the Bauhaus... and Paris..." "I had to find a new way." "I had to find... an issue somewhere." "So I reflected on music," "It consists of rhythms, sounds, vibrations, combinations." "Vibrations and sounds are combined... by a mathematical delimitation." "I also came back to maths... in painting and in sculpture." "Maths in sculpture... are often only recognisable... if we draw a half-circle." "It is exactly the same figure... at the start and end." "Exactly 18 years after... being expelled from the school of arts," "Max Bill was readmitted... in a new building as a teacher." "Emst Scheidegger, photographer and film maker, attended his class on design." "He came in his Adler, a car like a typewriter." "There was something mysterious in the air." "We were enthusiastic... to attend classes with him." "I met Max Bill here." "I took the first photo of Bill here." "The students liked Max Bill a lot, but he got new problems... with the then director, Johannes Itten." "Itten organised an exhibition of Nazi... decorative art in this building in 1943, with the Swiss Federal Council... and the Nazi legation in Bern." "Bill picked up his hat and left." "Bill was very generous... towards me as he told me:" "You can come to my house, and thus I went to... his workshop in Höngg." "Having become Bill's assistant," "Emst Scheidegger took many photos." "Max Bill's sculpture..." ""Continuity"... was exhibited... in this area in 1947." "You took photographs..." "Yes, there were... boulders everywhere, and Bill installed... his sculpture." "Then it was destroyed... by a group of right-wing students..." "They smashed it to pieces." "The press... supported Bill." "It was said that it was the continuation... of the cultural destruction by the German:" ""Degenerate Art"." "One day, in Frankfurt, some experts... said that there was... a sculpture which had been destroyed." "It was called "Continuity"." "And today, it would be perfect... for this location." "For someone to come and ask me... to reconstruct this big sculpture, which had been... a ghost for 40 years... ln 1983, Max Bill... goes to Sardinia to find granite." "The monolith must be faultless to create the sculpture... within three years." "It was an order... from the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt." "It was obvious... that a work of such a scale... would entail complications." "But I had Dominique Stroobant... who worked with his friends in Carrara." "This sculpture... reflects Max Bill's personality." "There are many openings, but also protections." "Max Bill is one of the greatest sculptors... of the 20th century." "The realm of the mind... behind it has always fascinated me." "Our whole apprehension of the entire world... has changed completely, the keyword is "Einstein"." "And to be expressed in art," "for an object to be not only... a three-dimensional space, but indefinite, where... the beginning merges with the end... and is turned it into an aesthetic object, is just marvellous." "No-one has succeeded... better than Max Bill... in creating this awareness... of a brand new state of mind." "For this sculpture, the French Minister..." "André Malraux has amended a law, because French museums... only bought the works of French artists." "Thanks to André Malraux, the famous Resistance writer," "Bill's sculpture now belongs... to the Centre Pompidou in Paris." "ln Paris Max Bill, after World War II, got a commission by the Marshall Plan... for the reconstruction in Germany." "The American occupation force... in Germany asked me... to write a report on the state... of the colleges." "ln Ulm, there was an institution... which one could support." "After World War II, 3/4 of Ulm were destroyed." "The Allies wanted to turn..." "Germany into an Agrarian State." "But because of the Cold War... these plans were changed." "Max Bill should build... a college funded by the Americans." "The American High Commissioner..." "McCloy gave Inge Scholl, a cheque for 1 million DM... for a school of design... run by Scholl Foundation." "Inge Scholl, sister of the well-known..." "Nazi victims Hans and Sophie Scholl, thanked him for this donation." "I created a new programme... because there was nothing... but cloudy ideas... for the re-education... of the German people." "On the Kuhberg in Ulm... was a concentration camp." "The new school ... should have been built there." "But Bill built it... on the sunny south slope." "He was the architect and director." ""We wanted to make a school... like the Bauhaus, as if it... hadn't been closed... by the Nazi."" "For me, Max Bill represented... the legend of the Bauhaus." "He was its incarnation!" "The Academy of Art  Design is open." "The founder of the Bauhaus," "Walter Gropius, came to the opening." "To his right, the Swiss architect Max Bill." "Professor Gropius made his speech." "Nearly 30 years ago," "I found myself in the position..." "Professor Max Bill is in today, in Dessau, at the opening... of the Bauhaus." "Such an experiment requires... the support of the official bodies." "Give the school... a chance to achieve this... as it takes years." "The building was just fantastic." "And still today, when we go to Ulm," "I feel its strong emanation." "The whole architecture... is like a series ofspaces." "A spatial experience!" "In this post-war era, we lacked many things." "We wanted young people..." "I to experiment with new concepts... for the shaping of our environment, from any object, small or big, to urban landscape." "The workshops were finished, but not the residences." "The workshops were partly used... to finish the building." "We stayed in a building site." "We could start where we wanted." "One started with fundamentals... then one moved on to research, development and design of forms, architecture and photography." "Later, Edgar Reitz and Alexander Kluge... opened a cinema section." "The atmosphere was very friendly." "It was really... team work." "Friendships developed... and still continue today." "We worked whole nights long..." "But after a certain time, two clans started to emerge." "One group called Bill's followers... worked intuitively." "And the others... wanted to work in a scientific way." "A counter-movement emerged, rejecting all Bauhaus attitudes." "Universal fundamental teaching, the bringing together of groups and interests... which led later to different subjects," "nobody wanted that anymore." "Conflicts between Bill's followers... and his opponents grew." "And the German economic miracle... demanded more marketing... and less content." "The Bauhaus ideals which focused... on the contents were under pressure." "The board of the foundation, lawyers only, forced me to confer... my power on the youth." "And I said to myself:" "Get out of here!" "12 years after... its official opening in 1955, the difficulties have grown." "Students and teachers do not meet... the bourgeois ideal of the school." "They are seen as being too avant-garde, also as members of the left wing." "5th December 1968." "Hans Filbinger," "President of Baden-Württemberg, and a former Nazi judge, closed down the Ulm academy... by claiming:" ""We want something new"." ""And we must liquidate the old one."" ""Ulm" was later used... by the university." "Numerous former graduates... and lecturers... became professors or opened... design workshops." "Ulm has created the professional profile... of the modem designer of today." "I don't really know how it came about," "I have thought about it a lot." "It was... a feeling of responsibility." "Which means that I am responsible... for what I do, in terms of design and not marketing." "What I do... kjklk has to make sense." "Ulm was closed... in 1968, during the young protest movements... against the war in Vietnam." "Max Bill signed... the first petition by European artists... in the New York Times." "Max Bill was... a political internationalist." "He had influenced... numerous young South-American artists." "In 1951, he was awarded first prize... at the Sao Paulo Biennial." "His first own exhibition... in the USA was in 1963." "Anni and Josef Albers came... together with Marcel Duchamp, and Donald Judd... wrote a review." "Numerous American collectors... took an interest in Max Bill." "After that, big retrospectives... took place in American cities." "ln Switzerland, he became... successful in 1968 only... when he... was also awarded... the Zurich prize for the arts." "I'm a bit embarrassed, because when I was a town councillor," "I asked for the amount... of this prize to be raised." "So I benefit now... from my own municipal actions." "My thoughts have always been... driven by politics." "I became a town councilor in Zurich." "Later, I was elected... to the National Council." "He criticised Swiss banks' dealings... with the Apartheid regime." "He was also opposed... to nuclear power." "He had civic courage." "He made himself unpopular... in certain circles." "Max Bill was watched during 50 years... by the Swiss national security." "The files revealed... that he would have been locked up... in a camp if Hitler's army had come." "After the Cold War, when Max Bill saw his files... he was interviewed on TV." "With the files, I hoped..." "I could write my biography." "But it was not so." "I've done things... that could be recorded." "I travelled to Fascist Italy," "and exhibited books by Silone." "Then the surveillance stopped... during the war." "There were only bits and pieces." "Here, Bill's concepts marry politics, art and aesthetics like nowhere else." "People should appropriate... his pavilion-sculpture... on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich." "There was an opposition to it, and the Opera workshop... had to create a model to be assessed." "I remember... what a disgrace it was... for the Zurich authorities." "They had refused the sculpture, then they wanted it... built in polyester... and painted in a naturalistic way!" "Then they called in a jury... with Chillida." "Chillida told me that... he was ashamed." "Today, the real sculpture in granite... is totally accepted." "It is a knot in space." "It is the opposite of a labyrinth." "There are 18 gates." "It's a question of composition, it triggers oscillations, provokes vibrations." "I try to set up... a world against confusion." "It is something... against individualism." "For six months, the National Exhibition in Lausanne... will be the mirror of our land." "The 1964 Exhibition takes shape." "Max Bill explains... the section "Creation and Design"." "Culture will be housed... in these prefab pavilions." "While President Ludwig von Moos... makes the symbolic gesture, church bells are ringing." "The exhibition invites us... to question our existence." "Bill consulted me... as the head designer." "Bill had created a bar... on the main square." "It was full of mirrors." "And all the colours were reflected in them." "Here we are on the piece of land where... the 1964 National Exhibition was held." "Max Bill was great... because he always had ideas." "There was the courtyard... where artists should... exhibit their sculptures." "On seeing it, Bill said: "What a mess!"" "And then, he was gilding the sculptures." "It was against individualism." "A brilliant idea!" "Not all the artists were happy about it, but they went along with it." "The twelve million visitors... saw it - beautiful!" "The theatre by Max Bill... remained from 1964." "People like it a lot... because its architecture does not disrupt." "It is a steel construction." "It is a dream place to work in." "Light is omnipresent, whatever the season." "It is very easy... to move from one room to another." "I've directed other theatres, the Opéra Bastille in Paris." "I'd give 10'000 Opéras Bastille... for one Théâtre de Vidi." "Max Bill created this place... for us professionals... and not for himself." "It is a gift he has given us." "Out of Max Bill's two houses, the one in Zumikon has kept... its original architecture." "This house... was born from its own function." "It's typical of my idea... of architecture." "It must have an acceptable form... and an expression." "We enter on the top... and we go downstairs... where we are now." "This is the main living room... which goes in every direction," "and also onto this terrace." "I spent 20 years with Max Bill." "We were in love." "After Binia Bill's death - we got married." "Max Bill was 40 years older than me." "Society didn't... accept it- and it always... put the blame on the woman." "Max Bill did... his graphic designs here." "For his architecture, he ran an office in town." "The painting studio was downstairs." "I always work... in the same aesthetic concept." "But I constantly find... new changing results." "I change things... only within a unique concept." "I don't change the concept itself." "Max Bill surrounded himself... with other artists' work." "There were Malevitsch," "Rodtschenko, Kurt Schwitters," "Jean Arp, Sophie Taeuber Arp... and Paul Klee." "Klee drew this in 1937." "When he fled to Switzerland in the Nazi era," "Bill's contacts with him... became close again." "Bill wanted to compare... his work to that of other artists." "He collected also African objects." "These triangles point... at Bill's creations." "Here, inside the house, Max Bill... often wore pyjamas... or a caftan." "But when he went out... he was always impeccably dressed." "And his bedroom was spartan." "Really austere and poor." "Concrete artists have removed... the private sphere from their art." "Max Bill was not interested in... other people's inner life." "He wanted to improve... man's aesthetic surroundings... for him to feel better." "That was his way... of influencing people's psyche." "Here, I feel in line with Bill." "An artist... must not only be an aesthete... who acts for a small elite, but he should also have a social contract." "The artist should enlighten... the aesthetics of our environment." "Therefore Max Bill was a real model." "I occupied the first professorship... for environmental shaping... that ever existed in Europe." "We were already debating... environmental protection... and the arrangement of the environment." "The worldwide production... grows every day... and we are responsible for it." "ln 1980, we went to Los Angeles... to visit Ray Eames," "Charles Eames' widow, both famous furniture designers." "Max enjoyed dancing with Ray." "Then two Japanese... asked Bill:" "Then one of them told me..." "And I said:" "Max Bill was well known in Japan... some prominent..." "Japanese designers had studied in Ulm." "ln 1993 Max Bill was awarded... the Japanese Praemium Imperiale." "The celebrations were in Tokyo and Berlin." "The Nobel Prize for art... was the wish of Prince Takamatsu." "Max Bill... is the biggest... representative of concrete art, an art based... on logic and mathematics." "Numerous statesmen... were members of the jury:" "the Italian President Amintore Fanfani, the French President Jacques Chirac, the German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the British Prime Minister Edward Heath." "Angela Thomas and Max Bill... on their way to the celebration in Tokyo." "To judge art... was something I had never done before." "I like both him and his work." "His international influence is very strong." "Max Bill is a great artist, well known abroad... but, not known enough in Europe," "But he is one of... the world greatest artists." "Max Bill came to my flat... in Zurich." "I should take photos of him... because he faced an eye surgery... the following day at the hospital." "One eye had to be removed." "Max Bill was afraid." "From the hospital, he wrote me a letter." ""When you get this card, the surgery will be over," "and I'll get a glass eye."" "I visited him on the next day, he had already done some drawings, a series he called "seven twins"," "in which the black and the white... colours alternate." "For me, it was the black... of the lost eye." "He immediately transformed his state... to create an new artwork." "This sculpture should... help us find our bearings." "Because the valley and the hill... are in line with the East and the West." "He has imagined... that we'd linger up here and gaze... at those different cardinal points." "It became clearer... after I had distanced myself from Bill, when he was no longerwith us." "Max Bill's secret... is the perfect eye he had," "the master's vision." "He could sketch... something with just a few strokes... and when you drew it, no change was possible, because it just worked." "I could imagine... that the master's vision he possessed... is comparable to a musician's perfect pitch." "Max Bill often went to Berlin... where he was vice-president... of the artistic academy." "There, he was also president... of the Bauhaus Archive." "On 8th December 1994, he presented his plans for an extension." "But the history of the world... thwarted his architectural project." "The German reunification... brought about major changes... in politics and urban developments." "The government withdrew its support, and Max Bill's project was cancelled." "He was exhausted." "Before we helped him to his taxi, he was really tired." "I did not accompany Max Bill... on his last trip to Berlin... because he spent only one night there." "I called him in the morning." "He didn't feel very well." "After 13 years," "Angela Thomas, as the widow, received... the police file regarding Max Bill's death." "There she found the name of a former... check-in employee:" "Dagmar Comorera." "We were at the check-in desk Nr 15." "and your husband came there with a trolley." "He was stopping all the time." "Something was wrong." "He was already lying on the floor... and I knelt down... and tried to speak to him." "I tried in several languages," "Spanish, English, Italian..." "There was no answer." "And then, at one moment, I felt... that he was going." "But instead of feeling sad," "I had a feeling of peacefulness." "I don't think he suffered." "He must have felt... that he was not alone." "The pavilion-sculpture in Zurich... was Max Bill's favourite sculpture." "He had told me... that he wanted his final resting place there." "So I asked the city council... if we could lay... his urn next to the sculpture." "But it was denied." "Jakob Bill and I... dug a hole here." "Then, we laid the urn in the ground." "Later, I came back with a friend." "We unearthed the urn, transferred the ashes into a bag," "put the urn back... and with the ashes... we left for Zurich." "The whole base of the pavilion-sculpture... was covered with ashes, with these little white grains." "And a passer-by came and asked:" ""What are you doing here?"" "And the friend who was with me... pointed to the sky and said:" ""It's an order from above."" "Max Bill was marked... by those periods of emptiness... which catch up with us... when our resources lessen." "The changes of the present time... challenge the postmodern extravagance... and luxuriance." "With his art, Max Bill has shown us... that beauty lies in reduction." "Translation:" "Isabelle Plouïdy Ueltschi"