Das Stammertal 1831–1980
Under the guidance of a communal committee and a commissioned historian, a large number of volunteers spent ten years compiling a new local history of the three Zurich communes of Oberstammheim, Unterstammheim and Waltalingen. The design offers a contemporary approach to a genre difficult to handle convincingly, without resorting to any ideological notions of Heimat. The engaging appeal begins with a ‘post-pointillist' abstract map on the cover and two full-page, full-bleed photos on the endpaper that lead into an image sequence and thus into the book itself. Inside, the clear structure makes the book easy to navigate, while the selection, weighting and dramaturgy of the diverse illustrative materials - historical photos, drawings, plans, statistics and so on - are suitably nuanced. It is the only book in this year's selection that was printed in Switzerland.
