Agenda

Switzerland is a (relatively unknown) country of viticulture. The canton of Valais and the cantons around the lakes of western Switzerland are the most important wine-growing areas.

Grape varieties are catalogued and inventoried worldwide. The most extensive catalogue is the VIVC Vitis International Variety Catalogue. In Switzerland. The University of Lausanne publishes the Swiss Vitis Microsatellite Database. Another Swiss database is the Nationale Genbank PGREL (National Genes Bank PGREL).

The latter includes vine varieties that originated or were bred in Switzerland or have national, regional or local importance.

At least 252 grapes are cultivated in Switzerland. There are up to 10,000 grape varieties worldwide, some estimates as high as 20,000, including about 5,000 hybrids.

The region around Lake Biel is known for cultivating Gutedel/Chasselas and Pinot noir. Today, the catalogue of varieties of the Rebgesellschaft Bielersee includes more than 70 white and red grape varieties.

The description of the vine determines Grapes. This science is called ampelography (from Greek ámpelos = vine and gráphein = to write). Vines are compared, and the shape and colour of leaves and grapes are described.

Nowadays, each grape variety has a unique genetic DNA profile. Grapes can be identified with 100% security.

The exhibition Vielfalt der Rebsorten (Vine Quality) in the Museum of Winegrowing in Ligerz (canton of Bern) shows old and new, known and unknown grape varieties. It shows the world of ampelography and the new world of modern grape cultivation.

Italy has been a desired destination for artists since the Renaissance. the country, perceived as the cradle of the arts, has exerted a fascination on European artists. The Grand Tour was part of the programme for scientists, Politicians and poets of the Enlightenment.

In addition to the admiration for antiquity and Italian art, it was also the longing for the south as the epitome of freedom and harmony of art and life in utopian Arcadia.

In the 20th century, this perspective changed: the Grand Tour gave way to mass tourism. The two World Wars led to a critical examination of Italian history. The idealised destination gave way to a more realistic view.

The exhibition Italia between Longing and Mass Tourism (Italia zwischen Sehnsucht und Massatourismus) traces the journeys south of renowned artists ranging from Claude Lorrain and Jan Both, Joseph Anton Koch, Carl Blechen, Arnold Böcklin, Anselm Feuerbach to contemporary artists.

The second exhibition in another part of the Kunst Museum presents Arte Povera works by Italian artists compared to German artists. This show is titled Nord-South (Nord-Süd). 

From the 1950s, Arte Povera questioned Italy with a new, different approach. The country was now reflected upon from within. Italian artists Lucio Fontana, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Luciano Fabro  and others and works by Gerhard Richter, Imi Knoebel und Isa Genzken are on show.

The third exhibition Di passagio in Reinhart am Stadtgarten presents the splendid art of Italian portrait miniatures.

Seven photographers visited seven buildings of Le Corbusier (1887-1966) in France and Switzerland. Le Corbusier himself used photography purposefully to propagate his talent and his visions.

But how does photography encounter Le Corbusier’s works today? For the exhibition (Architekturikonen neu gesehen) seven photographers visited seven key works of Le Corbusier. Visitors can get a new perspective of his art of building.

Jürg Gasser was a guest at the Villa “Le Lac” (1923–1924), the little house that Le Corbusier built for his parents in Corseaux on the shore of Lake Geneva. Arthur Zalewsky photographed the Villa Savoye (1928–1931) in Poissy near Paris. Katharina Bayer visited the Unité d’habitation (1946–1952) in Marseille, a huge residential block, which as a vertical garden city stands for the Reconstruction after World War II. Seraina Wirz traveled to his summer residence Cabanon (1951–1952) in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Lea Meienberg took up the challenge of the chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut (1951–1955) in Ronchamp near Belfort. Rasmus Norlander visited the convent of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette (1953–1960), the concrete structure that he built for the Dominican order in Éveux near Lyon. Erica Overmeer’s contribution is a portrait of the Pavillon, his last building (1963–1967).

Seven white architectural models of the buildings, identical in terms of scale and material, are on show on the ground floor.

From 23 April to 2 October 2022, the exhibition tells folk tales from the region of the central Alps and looks at their origins and how they spread.

The Devil’s Bridge, the Sennentuntschi, and, of course, the story of William Tell are three examples of famous tales and legends from central Switzerland. Unlike fairy tales, legends are believed to be «true» and always bear reference to a specific place, person, event or time.

They tell of extraordinary, supernatural, or miraculous incidents. They feature ghosts, witches, and even the Devil himself and historical events and figures. No wonder they capture people’s imagination and make them shudder, but, at the same time, they often also contain an educational, socio-critical, even moralizing element.

The exhibition (Sagenhafter Alpenraum) is concerned with how tales and legends originate and spread and questions their function and their impact. Experts and additional programmes provide insight and background information regarding folk tales’ origins, reception, and various motifs.

As a draughtsman, sculptor, and installation artist, Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) fundamentally changed the art of the 20th century. In 1969, the Kunstmuseum Basel was one of the first museums to exhibit his works.

Shortly after the opening of today’s Kunstmuseum BaselIGegenwart in 1980, a selection of his works was exhibited in changing constellations. Since spring 2021, the new Kunstmuseum BaselIGegenwart has presented this group of works.

The eleven Vitrines of Joseph Beuys include many small sculptures and objects that are works in their own right, multiples and relics of spectacular performances by the artist.

They were first exhibited in Basel in 1998 under the title Laboratories of the Imagination (Laboratorien der Imagination). The Vitrines and the Basel Beuys Collection are permanently displayed in the Kunstmuseum Basel | Neubau.

The exhibition (La Belle Époque de l’Art Nouveau) shows various aspects of the great artistic movement that shaped the architecture and art of Europe between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

Between the end of the 19th century and the First World War (1914-1918), Europe experienced years of peace (La Belle Epoque). Prosperity, scientific and technical discoveries, and progress belief all pointed in one direction until 1914.

Artists participated fully in the renewal of society in Paris and Vienna, Munich, and, for example, Brussels. Art Nouveau rejected the past forms and challenged classical culture with a different way of perceiving and representing the everyday living and working environment.

Art Nouveau (Jugendstil in German) did not limit itself to aesthetic and formal changes but also social changes. It was an artistic movement that radically marked the beginning of the 20th century.

Its effort to reform society through the beauty of objects accessible and visible to everyone was widely disseminated in subways, streets, (public) buildings and through its favourite media, posters, magazines, and prints.

The well-documented exhibition features some of the most influential artists, including Jules Chéret, Edvard Munch, Pierre Bonnard, Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka.

How did a decor fit for the Tuileries Palace find its way into a farm in the Bernese Jura? The exhibition explores a luxurious parlour decorated with wallpaper from the late 18th century – a masterpiece that is being shown in public for the first time – and tells the fascinating story of its colourful owner. It is a tale of wine, wallpaper, countryside and contraband.

Ovid in the Jura turns the spotlight on an exceptional gift that entered the collections in 2011: a wallpaper measuring 15 linear metres depicting Ovid’s Metamorphoses that was found in a farm in the Bernese Jura.

Les Imagiers de la Gruyère was founded 50 years ago. It is a group of artists, craftsmen, autodidacts and professionals. Their starting point is the use of materials from the region to create art.

Using different techniques and materials, they share their art with the multitude of materials from the region of la Gruyère (Canton of Fribourg). The multifaceted show presents unexpected and everyday materials and art.

With Karin Biland, Jean-Pierre Bochud, Ginette Bolomey, Marilyne Caille-Bapst, Marielle Collin, Nicole Drompt Spicher, Danielle Elamari-Sudan, Patricia Gabriel, Jean-Marc Gaillard, Yvonne Gendre, Pierre-Alain Jemmely, Éric Jolliet, Brigitte Knecht, Leila Licchelli, Lucette Pauchard, Philippe Renevey, Tania Renevey, Ursula Rime, Marie-Claude Sudan, Daniel Sudan, Hélène Tinguely, Bruno Yerly, Philippe Zueblin and Catherine Zumkeller.

Plastics have shaped our daily lives like no other material: from packaging to footwear, from household goods to furniture, from automobiles to architecture.

A symbol of carefree consumerism and revolutionary innovation, plastics have spurred the imagination of designers and architects for decades. Today, the dramatic consequences of the plastic boom have become obvious and plastics have lost their utopian appeal.

The exhibition Plastic: Remaking Our World examines the history and future of this controversial material: from its meteoric rise in the twentieth century to its environmental impact and to cutting-edge solutions for a more sustainable use of plastic.

The Exhibits include rarities from the dawn of the plastic age and objects of the pop era as well as numerous contemporary designs and projects ranging from efforts to clean up rivers and oceans to smart concepts for waste reduction and recycling through to bioplastics made from algae and mycelium.

The current debate about climate changes, the Earth’s habitability and our uncertain future reminds us that the relationship between man and nature is not immutable but is evolving constantly.

It is time to rethink that relationship. The vegetal world is at the heart of the issue here: it is both an object of study and experimentation, whether scientific or artistic, and a source of aesthetic inspiration.

Through its interdisciplinary approach, the exhibition casts a critical eye on our contemporary societies, exploring alternative models for our relationship to nature in order to imagine a different future.

The sculptures, prints, photographs, paintings, and installations by Alan Butler, Thomas Flechtner, Anne-Laure Franchette, Roswitha Gobbo,Monica Ursina Jäger, Eduardo Kac, Lisa Lurati, Paolo Mazzuchelli and Dona De Carli, Gabriela Maria Müller, Loredana Müller, Francine Mury, Uriel Orlow, Ursula Palla and Suzanne Treister are rooted in the Museo Villa dei Cedri’s hundred years old park and in its herbaria.

The show is organized in collaboration with the Museo cantonale di storia naturale in Lugano.