Agenda

500 years ago, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) created the Dead Christ in the Tomb (Der Tote Christus im Grab), which has been part of the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, now the Kunstmuseum, since its foundation in 1662.

300 years later, in 1821, the Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostojevsky (1882-1881) was born. The painting by Holbein makes a memorable appearance in his novel The Idiot, which is based on a visit by the writer to the Basel Art Museum.

On the occasion of this double anniversary, the museum is organising a presentation on the Dead Christ in the Tomb.

New scientific findings on the painting will be made public for the first time. Historical photographs and texts as well as quotations from Dostojevsky’s novel The Idiot will complement the small exhibition.

The exhibition (Schweizer Medienkunst) presents works by the winners of the Pax Art Awards 2020. The three Swiss artists address themes that are as diverse as they are essential.

From fictional worlds created in digital space to reflections on identity and self-expression in social media and playful but critical engagement with digital datasets,

Their different perspectives on poignant questions about society and technology investigate further-reaching connotations and future development.

For nearly thirty years, Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) has been hiding from the outside world, protected from paparazzi’s and the limelight in her beautiful house settled in Tolochenaz (canton of Vaud).

Bought in 1965, this home was her haven of peace and its name “La Paisible” made perfect sense. Within those walls, she raised her children, designed a wonderfulion Bo garden and her many friends.

The exposition (Audrey Hepburn in Switzerland : a lifelong love affair…) shows the Swiss life of this actress, her love for flowers (especially for roses), her immersion into local life and her philanthropic involvement for UNICEF.

The exhibition focuses on women and their (historical) place in society. The exhibition also shows the long road to women’s suffrage in Switzerland (1971) and in the canton of Obwalden in particular.

Five different women from Obwalden, Gweerigi Fraiwä (independent Women) are introduced: a writer, the first female doctor, a poet, a scientist and a social security pioneer.

Also on display are works of art by Nicole Buchmann (1987). Her photo series “Spinnereien” illustrate the long road to women’s suffrage in Obwalden: the progress and the setbacks.

On several purple panels, the history of marginalised women (Unerhörte Weiblichkeit) can be seen and heard.

Between 26 June and 12 September 2021, Kirchner Park in Davos displays Not Vital’s ceramic sculpture HEAD.

The sculpture, created in 2016, belongs to a group of works that the artist dedicates to portraits.

The artworks dispense with clear facial features and are characterised by a high degree of abstraction.

The visual language is characterised by poetic humour, sublime symbolism and surreal, individual mythology.

Through the polished and shiny surfaces, the environment is reflected and transformed in the artwork. In this way, the viewers become a part of the sculpture.

This play with reflections is reminiscent of Not Vital’s chrome steel portrait of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, which has been on display at the museum since 2019.

The big boat trip (Ahoy! 25 years of Moving Art) started last weekend. The converted cargo ship MS Evolutie casts off its lines and started its three-month journey down the Rhine.

It will drop anchor at relevant stations of Tinguely’s artistic career and offers an exhibition in the ship’s hull, a spectacular fountain sculpture on deck, creative workshops, as well as a great performance programme.

Follow the voyage on www.mtahoy.com. On the website you will find information about the route and the daily event schedule at the individual stops.

Furthermore, you can find detailed information about the events and workshops. The ship will return to Basel in time for the museum’s anniversary celebration at the end of September.

The consortages de bisses emerged in Valais during the Middle Ages around the management of common resources such as water, mountain pastures or forests.

The current and future challenges related to natural resources have revived interest in this collective governance, in which the users manage the common goods.

The exhibition “CONSORTAGES: Together, what future for our past? ” offers a historical journey into the world of these consortia, to discover their origins, understand their current reality and imagine their future.

The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of activities and a scientific publication

In his cinematographic art, Jean Lecoultre (1930) shows the violence of the cities.

In the face of this observation, his tools, pencil and brush, and his art show vulnerability, which reinforce the effect of his observations.

The exhibition presents lithographs, aquatints and varnishes from the Fondation William Cuendet & Atelier de Saint-Prex as well as recent drawings and paintings by the artist.

The exhibition (Moment. Monument. Aspects of contemporary sculpture) presents positions of sculpture by around 20 artists in the field of tension between duration and transience.

A monument is a man-made building or work of art. In a narrower sense, monument also means a memorial or memorial and reminds us of a historical personality or a historical event.

However, the monument always claims meaning and validity. Monument comes from the Latin verb ´monere´ to remember.

Sculpture today takes up the formal possibilities of the past, but redefines them for the present in terms of content.

Today it is less about a cultural and social revolution, about overcoming an artistic canon, but rather about redefining it in terms of content and material.

Artistic approaches no longer have to assert themselves as a radical break with tradition, but rather build on the past, combine it with the experiences of today and create works that are carried by their own sensibility.

The Fondation’s collection is connected to Olafur Eliasson’s Life exhibition and explores the relationship between nature and culture in art through selected modern and contemporary art works depicting the human, animal and vegetal realms. Landscapes, still lifes and portraits uncover a dense web of relationships with the environment.

The exhibition brings together more than 100 works from the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries, including masterpieces and major groups of works by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Ferdinand Hodler, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, Mark Rothko, Sigmar Polke, Roni Horn, Peter Doig, Philippe Parreno, Tacita Dean and Wolfgang Tillmans as well as rarely displayed works and recent acquisitions. Using a vast range of media – painting, sculpture, photography, drawing and multimedia installations – the works on display chart the full scope and complexity of the relationship between nature and culture.