Lang/Baumann: Models

Swiss artists Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann have been collaborating since 1990, gaining much international recognition as Lang/Baumann (or L/B). Their collaborative work comprises installations, sculptures, murals, and floor paintings, as well as architectural interventions. Models play a key role in their creative process. This book brings together for the first time all the models that L/B have made for the projects they have pursued over 33 years. It thus forms a complete catalog of their oeuvre to date in miniature format, featuring also those projects that were never developed beyond the model stage.

A model can serve three purposes: three-dimensional sketch, test of a concept, or presentation. L/B use all three types. The sketch model is quickly made, fragile, and merely manifests a thought. The working model is used to try to test formal or technical details. The presentation model is made to show the result once the design process is complete, and this is usually elaborately built.

Some 120 color illustrations are supplemented by two essays on iconography in Lang/Baumann’s work and on the playful aspect of model making. A conversation with Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann rounds off the book.