By the late 1970 s, Andreas Züst had already begun photographing the atmosphere’s visual and meteorological phenomena : lightning, twilight, foehn effects, halos, iridescent clouds, night-time sea of fog, fog bows, sundogs, northern lights, purple light, sun columns, rays of sun and shadow, weather fronts, the Brocken specter and the zodiacal light. In the mid-1990s, when Züst met the author Peter Weber, the two began to collaborate productively. The result was the multimedia exhibit Himmel which included the most important of these pictures. Although the two of them were continually reworking the selection and order of the 80 pictures, this collection can be characterized as representing the essence of Züst’s pre-occupation with the sky and its manifestations.
Five years after the publication of Fluoreszierende Nebelmeere (Edition Patrick Frey, No. 64), this important work cycle by the sky-observer Andreas Züst is now to be published in its entirety. The atmospheric book of photos containing more than 150 pictures is accompanied by texts written by various authors, each of whom have addressed a specific aspect of the sky in Andreas Züst’s universe: Michel Mettler investigates the inner weather conditions and imagines the phenomenon of the sky as an offer of self-reflection in need of interpretation. Peter Weber gives an anecdotal report of Züst’s drive to communicate and convert. Bernd Stiegler writes about visualization in the natural sciences and David Weiss provides the epilogue. The inspiring and illustrative conclusion is created by Mara Züst and Stefanie Sourlier’s foray into Andreas Züst’s vast collection of books dealing with the sun, be they scientific, religious, literary, artistic or trivial.
Most beautiful Swiss books, 2011