Background information
58 shots for 18 holes
by Patrick Bardelli
The hole picture
9.2.2020
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Pictures: Thomas Kunz
It was a bit of a struggle to agree on a subject for our first focus week. The outcome? Five days and five stories with one thing in common – a hole.
«People want to see the hole, not the drill!» the speaker of an internal writing workshop exclaims to us participants. Furrowed brows loosen and turn into giggles behind cupped hands. Juvenile jokes aside, there’s something to be said about the speaker’s statement. People like you and me want solutions. More than ever in this day and age. The problem and the tool to solve it? Not important. Fast forward several months and we’ve taken the speaker quite literally. We’ve dedicated a whole week to holes – not metaphorically but literally. We invite you to take a look inside, see the end of the tunnel and discover that you’ll find things were you’d expect to find nothing.
Our focus week starts on a light note. Sports editor Patrick Bardelli travelled down to Ascona to take a closer look at the world’s oldest standardised minigolf course. Whilst tackling 18 holes alongside the course’s operator, Alfred Graf, numerous anecdotes from bygone times are revealed. Always by his side: photographer Thomas Kunz.
Far off from this playful carelessness, life shows its darker side. A side where people pack for their final voyage. A voyage that will take them to their physical limit. Everyday things turn into battles. Something Pia Seidel learns in an interview with designer Bitten Stetter. The latter has dedicated herself to the taboo topic of death after experiencing a painful loss. One thing her research study takes a closer look at is the commode chair. An item that is so much more than a seat with a hole. It symbolises the approaching end and is a criticism of the cheerless design in palliative care.
Meanwhile, editor Michael Restin dives down into grim surroundings as he goes subterranean in Bern. He is confronted with a complex network of underground canals full of invisible dangers, curious findings and «nuggets». For one day, he accompanies the sewage network maintenance team and soon realises: despite reflective clothing, you remain invisible when you work in the shadows.
The gravediggers at the Hörnli cemetery in Basel also wear bright uniforms. «We call it a grave, not a hole,» they clarify at the beginning of their chat with editor Carolin Teufelberger. On site, she learns which situations particularly affect them and what it’s like working alongside the grim reaper.
While all hope is buried for some, others are drilling for it in the Swiss Alps. In their bedrock lab, the «National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste» is looking to the future and researching repository solutions for our nuclear waste. Lab manager and geologist Ingo Blechschmidt shows Simon Balissat what a day with no sun but with radiation looks like and tells him why there's more light at the end of the tunnel than you’d expect.
Natalie Hemengül
Senior Editor
Natalie.Hemenguel@digitecgalaxus.chAs a massive Disney fan, I see the world through rose-tinted glasses. I worship series from the 90s and consider mermaids a religion. When I’m not dancing in glitter rain, I’m either hanging out at pyjama parties or sitting at my make-up table. P.S. I love you, bacon, garlic and onions.
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