Agenda

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.

Lika Nüssli (1973) observes, researches and experiments with various art forms. Her multifaceted oeuvre encompasses drawing, illustration, comics, painting, installation, textiles, performance and texts.

The exhibition is presenting her first major retrospective. It includes works from all her periods, ranging from comics to large-format paintings and autobiographic work.

Recent works and original drawings with elements of her native canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden and the graphic novel Starkes Ding (Strong Thing) are also on show. T

This novel is based on her father’s Diary and memories of his youth as a foster child on a farm in Appenzell Ausserrhoden after the Second World War.

In her first graphic novel Vergiss dich nicht from 2018 (Don’t Forget Yourself), she already addressed her roots. She created a combination of autobiography, documentary and fiction, revolving around her changing relationship with her mother, who suffered from dementia.

She has produced many of her works during voyages and far away from home in Belgrade, Paris, St Petersburg, Moscow and Cairo. 

These works often deal with topical issues, like repression, pollution, censorship, and the status of women.

She also approaches the public and communicates with individuals on the spot, for example, refugees in their tent camps in Paris.

This multitalented artist often starts her creative process without a specific plan. Sketching is one of her means to get new ideas and inspiration. Many of these works are on show as well. They give a good insight into her creative process.

Wolfgang Laib (1950) is considered one of the most important contemporary artists. His work is characterised by a deep relationship with nature and a striving for simplicity. Eastern philosophies from India have influenced his life and artistic practice since the 1970s.

Since his travels to India, he has been inspired by the idea of seeing humankind as part of a greater whole. He follows this way of life in his art as well. The artist works with natural materials such as pollen, rice, milk or beeswax.

The presentation of his works of art is set in a field of thousands of rice mounds that are related to the architectural features of the hall. Rice is a crucial food and symbolises vitality and life.

The caricature is the most frequently used theme in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s graphic work. For Dürrenmatt (1921-1990), caricature was a weapon of the human spirit with which he denounced the abuses in society and politics.

The exhibition (Karikaturen/Caricatures)presents the whole range of his caricatures, from his illustrations for plays to his satirical drawings of theatre critics and his caricatures of religion and politics. The exhibition also explores his great interest in other caricaturists.