The Stapferhaus in

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Swiss canton Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. Lenzburg and the neigh ...

, Switzerland, was founded in 1960 as a place for encounters and intellectual debate. Stapferhaus Lenzburg

Founders and founding site

The Stapferhaus was founded by the representatives of

Pro Helvetia The foundation Pro Helvetia is a public foundation of Switzerland. Presidents *From 1939 to 1943, Heinrich Häberlin. *From 1944 to 1952, Paul Lachenal. *From 1952 to 1964, Jean-Rodolphe de Salis. *From 1965 to 1970, Michael Stettler. *From 1971 ...

, Pro Argovia, the

Canton Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...

and the City of Lenzburg. It was named for Philipp Albert Stapfer (1766-1840), who is considered the founder of the Canton of Aargau. Today Sybille Lichtensteiger is the director of the Stapferhaus. She is responsible for the strategy, setting the themes and the programme. Sybille Lichtensteiger studied

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

in Zurich and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and started working at the Stapferhaus 20 years ago. In 1960 the Stapferhaus was opened in

Lenzburg castle Lenzburg Castle (german: Schloss Lenzburg) is a castle located above the old part of the town of Lenzburg in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland. It ranks among the oldest and most important of Switzerland. The castle stands on the almost circular ...

and hosted conferences and debates there for about 30 years. In 1994, its first

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

was ''Anne Frank and us'', done under the direction of Hans Ulrich Garner. From 2002-2018 the Stapferhaus showed its exhibitions at the Zeughaus in Lenzburg, while its offices were still located in Lenzburg castle. In 2018 the Stapferhaus took up its first permanent home close to

Lenzburg railway station Lenzburg railway station (german: Bahnhof Lenzburg) is a railway station in the municipality of Lenzburg in the Swiss canton of Aargau. The station is located on the Heitersberg line, part of the Zurich to Olten main line, to the west of the j ...

, which is now used for both exhibition spaces and offices. The first exhibition in the new building, from 2018 until 2020, was ''FAKE. And the Office for the Whole Truth''. The flexible building is designed to be constantly remodelled, which makes the architecture special. Stairs and walls in the building can be shifted, the floors can be opened, and the façade and forecourt can be changed and re-designed.

Foundation

The Stapferhaus Foundation has operated the Stapferhaus, one of Canton Aargau's eleven cultural flagships, since 2007.

Financing

The Stapferhaus is financed on a project basis, with financial requirements dependent on the rhythm and size of the respective project. As an institution of national significance, the Stapferhaus is financed by

public funds Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...

and its own

operating income In accounting and finance, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) is a measure of a firm's profit that includes all incomes and expenses (operating and non-operating) except interest expenses and income tax expenses. Operating income and op ...

. It also relies on the support of

foundations Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

, private partners and sponsors. In recent years the Stapferhaus Foundation has been one of the largest recipients of money from the Lottery Fund.

Foundation board

The Stapferhaus Foundation board is responsible for the strategic orientation of the cultural institution and securing its funding and determining the management of the institution. The board determines its roles and responsibilities itself, but the Canton of Aargau and the City of Lenzburg have a representative in the board. The canton also appoints the chair of the foundation.

Mission

With its large thematic exhibitions, the Stapferhaus tries to deal with current issues. The goal is for visitors to share their knowledge and experiences and to confront their own perspectives.

Exhibitions

Until mid-May 2022, the Stapferhaus has an exhibition about

Gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

and Sex. * ''1994: Anne Frank and us'' ** Publication: Beat Hächler (ed.): ''Anne Frank and us''. Chronos, Zürich 1995, ISBN 978-3-905311-71-6 * ''1997: A walk on the wild side. Jugendszenen der Schweiz von den 30er Jahren bis heute'' ** Publication: Barbara Rettenmund (ed.): ''A walk on the wild side. Jugendszenen der Schweiz von den 30er Jahren bis heute''. Chronos, Zurich 1997, ISBN 978-3-905312-03-4 * ''1999-2001: Last Minute. Eine Ausstellung zu Sterben und Tod'' ** Hans-Ulrich Glarner (ed.): ''Last minute. Ein Buch zu Sterben und Tod''. Hier und Jetzt, Baden 1999, ISBN 978-3-906419-05-3 * ''2002: Autolust. Eine Ausstellung über die Emotionen des Autofahrens'' ** Publication: ''Autolust. Ein Buch über Emotionen des Autofahrens''. Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2002, ISBN 978-3-906419-29-9 * ''2003: SuperAargau'' * ''2004-2005: Strafen (Punishment)'' ** Publication: Nathalie Unternährer (ed.): ''Strafen. Ein Buch zur Strafkultur der Gegenwart''. Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2004, ISBN 978-3-906419-82-4 * 2006-2007: ''Glaubenssache (Matter of Faith). Eine Ausstellung für Gläubige und Ungläubige'' ** Nathalie Unternährer (ed.): ''Glaubenssache. Ein Buch für Gläubige und Ungläubige''. Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2006, ISBN 978-3-03919-038-6 * ''2009-2010: Nonstop. Eine Ausstellung über die Geschwindigkeit des Lebens'' ** Publication: ''Nonstop. Ein Lese- und Hörbuch über die Geschwindigkeit des Lebens''. Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2009, ISBN 978-3-03919-110-9 * ''2010-2011: Home. Willkommen im digitalen Leben'' ** Publication: ''Home - willkommen im digitalen Leben''. Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2010, ISBN 978-3-03919-191-8 * ''2012-2014: Entscheiden (Decision Making). Über das Leben im Supermarkt der Möglichkeiten'' ** Publication: ''Entscheiden. Das Magazin zur Ausstellung''. Stapferhaus, Lenzburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-033-03632-1 * ''2014-2016: Geld. Jenseits von Gut und Böse'' ** Publication: Michael Fässler (ed.): ''Geld - jenseits von Gut und Böse''. Stapferhaus, Lenzburg 2014. * ''2017-2018: Heimat. Eine Grenzerfahrung'' ** Publication: ''Heimat - eine Grenzerfahrung''. NZZ Libro, Zürich 2017, ISBN 978-3-03810-256-4 * ''2018-2020: FAKE. And the Office for the Whole Truth'' ** Publication: ''Fake. Das Magazin''. Stapferhaus, Lenzburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-907291-17-7 * ''2020-2022: Gender and Sex. Discover now'' ** Publication: Sibylle Lichtensteiger (ed.). ''Geschlecht. Jetzt entdecken''. NZZ Libro, Basel 2020, ISBN 978-3-907291-17-7

Awards and nominations

Awards

In 2020 the Stapferhaus won the

European Museum of the Year Award The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum ( EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European museum sector. History ...

for the flexibility of its building and its exhibition work. Due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the

awards ceremony An awards ceremony is a type of ceremony where awards are given out. The ceremony may be arranged by a government organization, a society, a school, a trade association or even a company that specializes in running awards ceremonies. Typically a ma ...

had to happen virtually. The museum was acknowledged as a

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

for the art of living, and its approach was called innovative, creative and future-oriented. The Stapferhaus has won or been nominated for several other awards over the years: * 2019: Best Architects Award, award in ''public building'' * 2019:

European Design Awards The European Design Awards, also known as the ED-Awards, are annual awards presented to European designers for outstanding work in the communication design field. The ED-Awards is a joint initiative of design magazines from across Europe and endorse ...

(*EDAWARDS), silver award in ''exhibition design'' * 2019: MUSE Design Awards, platinum-award in ''Interior'' * 2020: AIT Award, ''special mention'' * 2020: European Museum Award of the Year, ''the main award'' * 2021: IDA Design Awards, bronze award in the categories ''Zines/Flyers'' and ''Print/Editorial'' for FAKE. Das Magazin * 2021: Award with the Swiss LGBTI-Label * 2021: Award for Marketing and Architecture, category ''audience construction, sports complex, hospitals, train stations, school buildings, cultural constructions''. * 2021: Swiss Print Award, silver in the category ''Publications'' for the book Gender * 2021: Prix Lignum, ''recognition award'' * 2021: Best in Heritage, ''Projects of Influence'', third place

Nominations

* 2018: Hochparterre Die Besten * 2019: Archmarathon - Worldwide Architecture Award * 2019: Archmarathon - Worldwide Architecture Award, nominated in ''Arts & Culture'' * 2020/2021: Dasa Award, European Academy Nomination, among the last three institutions

References

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