The publication Trying to be here …, neither a traditional exhibition catalog nor an artist’s book, is about the intermediary, the fleeting aspect that Jiajia Zhang also always follows in her work. The publication could be called a recipe book, an associative collection of material on the creation of Zhang’s fragile, continually reforming exhibitions. The basis for the publication is the e-mail correspondence that resulted from an exchange on the “here” which Jiajia Zhang conducted with Roland Früh and Daniel Morgenthaler during the preparations for the exhibition. These texts, arranged in chronologically reverse order, include photographs, screenshots, sketches, and other texts—materials that Zhang collected, processed, discussed, and incorporated into her exhibition during the preparations. They are sources that expand the exhibition and demonstrate Zhang’s working method. Finally, the flood of materials that were continually assembled in the layout as the exhibition was being set up was commented on and supplemented by Zhang—an additional level that makes Trying to be here … grow into a multilayered, complex conglomerate. This publication was made possible with the generous support of Stadt St.Gallen, Kanton St.Gallen and SWISSLOS/Kulturförderung.
