‘Burnout is a risk, but you can’t get anywhere without putting in the effort.’

The Walcheturm Art Space is a place in constant flux. Unusual, unconventional concepts find a home here – driven by an idea that shapes and carries the space forward. Developed in the 1990s as part of the Walcheturm Gallery, it was later moved to the Löwenbräu and from there to the Abseits. What remained was an association – and the question: what next?

The answer came from Patrick Huber. Not a member of the association, but deeply rooted in Zurich’s art scene. His proposal: a new art space. Open, flexible, independent.

At the time, Huber was working between off-spaces, temporary venues and parties. Temporary spaces, often cross-subsidised by the nightlife scene. “Strangely enough, all these artists had already been to my parties,” he tells me, “I just didn’t know they were artists yet.”

According to Huber, an off-space is a venue run by artists and creatives that exists outside market logic. Once often the first step into the commercial art market, these in-between spaces still exist, but they have become rarer.

The focus was not on a community, but on an idea. “Community is a result”, says Huber, “it always starts with an idea.”

As a trained architect, he thinks beyond spaces: both physically and mentally. The Walcheturm thus becomes a living space hosting concerts, performances, films, exhibitions and festivals such as the upcoming Videoex Festival for experimental video and film art. These are diverse formats, united by a shared ethos.

“This idea is hard to put into words”, Huber continues, “you only understand it if you come here several times, and those who do come become part of it.”

Being physically present on site creates an intimacy, sustained by return visits and participation.

Zurich is changing rapidly: “Everything is being gilded”. Spaces are being used more intensively, and temporary uses are disappearing. The city is being gentrified, greened and upgraded. Gaps are being integrated and utilised. For Huber, it is precisely these gaps that are crucial:

“I call them gaps”, he explains. A gap is an interstice in the system.

The Walcheturm is one of these few remaining places. Run for over twenty years without public funding, it bears the mark of Huber’s influence and his two greatest skills: adaptation and improvisation.

Recently, some support has started to flow in from the city, but the tension remains: “Burning out is a danger, but you can’t do it without burning.”

And what’s next? He doesn’t have a master plan: “It’s always made sense and things have just carried on.” Perhaps that is precisely the ethos of this place: to keep the fire burning – “Keep the fire burning.”