Ross Birrell and I were among several other artists commissioned to make works for the new Zurich City Police building at Muhleweg. Under the title of ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ curator Adam Szymczyk’s proposal was for the works to be temporary, each of which would be documented through photographs and texts. These would then be exhibited in the completed building after it had been formally opened and would remain as an ‘exhibition’ of all the works undertaken.
Being a police authority building Ross and I decided to work with a statement of Roman law which forms the basis of many contemporary legal systems – for Ross, ‘Audi alteram partem’- ‘Listen to the other side’, and myself with a variation, ‘Audiatur et altera pars’ – ‘Let the other side be heard as well’. Ross’s work consisted of making videos of improvised performances by two musicians and a singer in the prisoner cells in the building.
David Harding, Audiatur et altera pars (2021)
Text installation in copper leaf in five languages.
LL Ruder Plakat font: provided by Lineto GmbH, Zurich
On the pavement at the entrance to the new Zurich Police Authority building on Muhleweg the maxim ‘Audiatur et altera pars’ (Let the other side be heard as well) is installed along with translations in the four Swiss national languages. It is a general principle of rationality and was treated as part of common wisdom by ancient Greek dramatists. It forms part of many contemporary legal systems.
The phrases are written in the font “LL Ruder Plakat” which is used for the first time in a public context. This homage to Emil Ruder, type designer and lecturer at Academy of Art and Design in Basel, points up the Swiss tradition of typography.
As a general principle of rationality in reaching conclusions in disputed matters, “Hear both sides” was treated as part of common wisdom by the ancient Greek dramatists. [e.g. Aeschylus, “The Eumenides” 431, 435]