Kunsthaus Zurich Launches New Website
July 29, 2008 | Levent OZLER
It's one of the most-visited addresses on the Swiss museum landscape: www.kunsthaus.ch, the Kunsthaus Zurich's virtual calling card, which first went online exactly ten years ago. Today some 500,000 people look to it every year for information about Switzerland's most venerable collection and exhibition venue. The site was recognized early on as a provider of detailed, polyglot information, with such innovations as its Shop and Agenda features. Now its navigation and overall look have been updated to keep pace with the dynamic growth of its contents, and the public's changing need to know.
Simple Navigation. Cutting-edge Info
A new and distinctive design allows visitors to identify the key areas immediately and access them directly. If a major event has been sold out or a spectacular purchase made, a bulletin will appear on the homepage. In addition to the changing lead image - from the current exhibition - the Kunsthaus collection will also make itself immediately evident with a glimpse of a selected item. The fourth feature is the online agenda, whose useful calendar function will distinguish it from the surrounding artwork. Its layout, based on the predominantly black-and-white Kunsthaus corporate design, ensures that the visual arts enjoy pride of place.
Art Card and Screensaver Available as Free Downloads
The website, in English, German and French, is targeted at a national and international audience of potential museum guests. The relaunch is being promoted with banners designed by Swiss artist Ingo Giezendanner. This fall students and tourists, art lovers from the English-speaking world and readers of Germany's arts and reviews pages will learn about the Kunsthaus Zurich by way of these artist's adverts on myswitzerland.com, students.ch, zeitonline.de and theartnewspaper.com. To mark the relaunch, Ingo Giezendanner was also asked to design an e-card and a screensaver, both of which are now available for free download.
Information Network Expanded. Archive Reduced
Newly created extra capacity, free software, and the commitment of two long-time sponsors, Credit Suisse and Swiss Re, made it possible to initiate the relaunch in 2007. A content-management system allows Kunsthaus staff to create content themselves and upload it without external assistance. The familiar scope of information on the current exhibition programme, the collection and events has been maintained or expanded. Searching has been made more efficient and cross-references to such things as accompanying publications are in place. The illustrated websites established for past exhibitions have disappeared from the internet, since the annual fees newly levied by ProLitteris, the Swiss copyright society, constituted a considerable financial burden. The online catalogue of the Kunsthaus library remains available for consultation at any time, as does the annual report and the current issue of the museum's magazine. Major exhibitions will continue to have their own websites.
Responsible Partners
The Kunsthaus project team was headed by Markus Spiri (IT), supported in turn by Thomas Rosemann (library), Anna Vollenweider (online communication), Björn Quellenberg (corporate design and advertisement) and Monique Spaeti (sponsorship). The advertising agency Inform AG, of Zurich, whose winning pitch scored them the commission, is responsible for the design. The external partner in charge of programming is Snowflake GmbH (CMS), of Zurich.
The project is supported by Credit Suisse - Partner of the Kunsthaus Zurich and Swiss Re - Partner for contemporary art
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