Agenda

The Iberians are subject of a major archaeological exhibition in Basel. The Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig, in cooperation with the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya in Barcelona, presents more than 260 exhibits from 40 archaeological excavation sites that illustrate the diversity and beauty of these peoples who lived along the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula during the Iron Age (800-100 BC).

Pictures: Exhibition ‘Iberians’, Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig

The exhibition offers a fascinating insight into the history of the Iberian peoples. The Iberian culture began to develop in the 6th century BC. The era of the Iberians came to an end around 500 years later when the entire Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the Romans.

The Iberian peoples lived on the southern coast of Andalusia from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as across the entire eastern coast of what is now Spain, also extending as far as Languedoc in what is now southern France.

They achieved a high level of social and cultural development. The Iberian culture developed from the combination of local traditions and foreign influences from the Orient and Greece. Drawn to the region by the plentiful metals, the Phoenicians, and later the Greeks, established trading settlements in the areas populated by the Iberians.

The Iberian culture was characterised by highly developed production techniques, for example gold and silversmithing methods, as well as a spoken and written language, a complex system of gods and religious practices.

Its civilisation was already mentioned by ancient Greek and Roman scholars, but  forgotten after the fall of the Roman Empire (5th century AD). Archaeological excavations and historical, linguistic and paleogenetic studies allow a reconstruction of this splendid Iron Age culture.

The exhibition texts are available in Catalan, Spanish, German, English and French.

At the outset of the twentieth century, a loosely affiliated group of artists centring around Henri Matisse, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck conducted revolutionary experiments in colour.

The name Fauves was bestowed on the group in 1905 by art critic Louis Vauxcelles. He first employed “fauves” in one of his articles; the term, which in English translates as “wild beasts” or “wild animals”, was intended to characterise the clique of artists who remained little known prior to 1905.

In the group’s expressive approach to the application of colour, its striking, often virulent colour schemes, and the rejection of naturalistic renderings of local colours, Vauxcelles discerned the break with academic precedent.

Fauvism was the premier avant-garde movement of the 20th century. Between 1904–1908, it set the pace in the Paris art scene for a brief period. Its impact endured long into the future, however.

Fauvism coincided with the Belle Époque, which lasted until 1914. This period heralded the rapid rise of urban mass society, industrialisation, technical innovations, fast-emerging mobility and the advertising and tourism industries.

The show (Matisse, Derain and Friends. The Paris Avant Garde 1904-1908) also features work by the artists Émilie Charmy and Marie Laurencin, and provides insights into the trade in Fauvist art, a trade in which gallerist Berthe Weill was to play a decisive role. Conventional perceptions as to the style of this movement, which left such an indelible stamp on modernism, are also called into question.

Zentrum Paul Klee makes a shift of direction. Kosmos Klee. The collection (Kosmos Klee. Die Sammlung) introduces a new show to his life and works.

Zentrum Paul Klee owns and shows the most extensive collection of his works. Alongside his works, the Zentrum Paul Klee also houses the artist’s archive. The archive gives insight into multiple aspects of his artistic and private life. His love of music, for example. The (oral) archive also contains photographs, letters, Klee’s library, a recently made film documentary, and his vast collection of objects.

Zentrum Paul Klee is also the world’s authoritative centre for research into the artist’s life and work. Short texts, biographical photographs and films allow a glimpse into the various phases of his oeuvre and life.

One part of the museum is reserved for the space. FOKUS houses temporary exhibitions. They will focus on a particular aspect of Klee’s work or an artist referencing it.

The first temporary exhibition shows his celebrated depictions of angels. Klee’s angels are not perfect messengers from heaven. They are beings with human character traits between this world and the world beyond.

In subsequent exhibitions, FOKUS will feature artists with a particular artistic relationship with Klee. Other themes are the responses of architects to his work or the importance of art journals to the global exchange of ideas among artists in the first half of the 20th century.

The exhibition ‘Time. From Dürer to Bonvicini’ (Die Zeit. Von Dürer bis Bonvicini) explores the intellectual history of time, its measurement, and time as subjective experience.

The artistic positions represented range from the Renaissance to the present day. Their aesthetic preoccupations are informed by biology, sociology, philosophy, politics and economics. Time is one of the great mysteries in the history of humankind, and is defined in multiple ways in fields as diverse as philosophy, biology, economics, politics and art.

This journey through the history of time features paintings, films, installations, performances and historical watches. They attest to the ephemeral nature of life, the scope for meditation opened up by painting, the changing seasons, and financial markets that are now synchronized down to the last picosecond.

Languages tend to be full of terms containing the word ‘time’. The exhibition, however, does not set out to answer the question ‘what is time?’ Instead, it offers multiple thought-provoking ideas that encourage visitors to relate the various facets of ‘time’ to each other.

The exhibition is a collaboration with the Musée international d’horlogerie (MIH), La Chaux-de-Fonds. Over a hundred artists are represented with some 230 works

The search for ideal dimensions and a universally applicable system of proportions occupied Le Corbusier (1887–1965) throughout his life. The exhibition (The Modulor-Mass and Proportion) illustrates his in-depth research, showing models from nature such as snail shells and minerals but also references from art history ranging from Gothic to contemporary.

The culmination of his quest was the development and application of the legendary Modulor system, which combines a human scale with the golden ratio. Le Corbusier perfected the programmatic Modulor figure and its geometric derivation in countless variations.

Applying this series of measurements, he realized spectacular designs in typography, furniture, urban planning, and architecture—including his Zurich pavilion based on Modulor proportions.

In the Middle Ages (1 000-1 500), the area between the Alps and Lake Constance (Bodensee) developed into an important economic, transit and trade area.

Some cities joined together to form confederations or alliances of cities, introduced a uniform currency system and formed hubs for regional and international trade.

Some 150 artefacts from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein depict this medieval period of politics, agriculture, crafts, trade and shipping.

The exhibition (Mittelalter am Bodensee. Wirtschaftsraum zwischen Alpen und Rheinfall) shows economic unity in political disunity.

Languages are more than merely a means of communication; they also shape daily lives and are part of culture. The exhibition (Sprachenland Schweiz/La Suisse, pays de langues) shows Switzerland’s linguistic landscape. In addition to the four national languages (German, Italian, French, and Romansh), countless other languages, dialects, accents, and types of slang can be heard.

Languages are a key part of Switzerland’s cultural heritage, and this exhibition explores them from a cultural history perspective. Language is constantly changing and closely linked to (contemporary) history. Historical events, such as the presence of Raethian tribes, the Roman occupation, the immigration of German-speaking tribes and Walser, and the Reformation, have decisively shaped the evolution of languages in Switzerland.

Language remains highly political to this day. The exhibition presents various topics innovatively and interactively. Visitors tour and travel through Switzerland’s linguistic landscape in space and time.

The exhibition (Bits, Bytes & Biodiversity) at the Information Centre of the Swiss National Park (Nationalparkzentrum). shows current research projects at the University of Zurich. Ecologists investigate how animal and plant worlds react to human and climatic influences.

In doing so, science is making increasing use of digital tools. For example, camera traps such as those used by the Swiss National Park.

Thanks to these camera traps, scientists can observe wild animals without influencing their behaviour and without using invasive means such as collars or ear tags. However, this method generates huge amounts of data. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to select, monitor and analyse these results.

After the First World War (1914-1918) and the collapse of four empires (the Austrian Ottoman, Russian and German Empires), violence and instability undermined  Southeastern Europe.

Signed on 24 July 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne is the only agreement signed in the aftermath of the war that is still in force. Of considerable importance for the history of Europe and the Middle East, it established the birth of modern Turkey, but overlooked the aspirations of minorities.

The exhibition looks back at the key decisons and moments of this conference, which lasted almost nine months. It also shows and considers the questions of remembrance and the treaty’s present-day significance in this part of Europe and the Middle East.

Anyone wondering what plankton, bacteria, smell and scent, salmon, empathy for fish and the wonderful but largely unknown ecosystem of the oceans have to do with art should visit the new exhibition at the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G.

The Kulturstiftung is showing an interactive exhibition devoted to the ecological challenges of our time. The exhibition is an interactive spectacle and a challenging olfactory experiment and is always accompanied by specific workshops as part of the Public Program.

Following Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), an initiative founded in New York in 1967 promoting the cooperation between art and new technology, the curators Martina Huber and Gianni Jetzer started EXPERIMENTAL ECOLOGY in 2022 as a platform for artists and scientists working in the field of ecology.

The five international teams and their projects

Ingo Niermann, Alex Jordan, Welcome to My World, Installation, Experimental Ecology, KBH.G. Photo: Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G

Welcome to My World

The artist and author Ingo Niermann and the biologist Alex Jordan are asking the question: “How do fish feel?” or “How does one feel like a fish?”. They create a scenario using an AI- game with a fish avatar where visitors can develop empathy with a rather inconspicuous sea creature, its life, and its sense of feeling. A workshop accompanying the exhibition will take place on 12 September.

Sissel Tolaas, Christina Agapakis, The Suiss_ The Cheese, 2023, Installation, Experimental Ecology, KBH.G. Photo: Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G

The SUISS_The Cheese 

The artist and olfactory researcher Sissel Tolaas and the American biologist and artist Christina Agapakis deal with the perception and acceptance of smell in our society. They research the microbial elements of human body odour, which has a very similar microbial origin to the smell of cheese. To further explore this connection, they experiment with making cheese using starter cultures collected on human skin. A workshop will be organised on 7 October.

Michelle-Marie Letelier, Karin Pittman, Salm Ethos, 2023, Installation, Experimental Ecology, KBH.G. Photo: Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G

Salm Ethos

The maritime and fishery biologist Karin Pittman and the artist Michelle-Marie Letelier pursue the question as to what extent a lack of empathy stands in the way of successfully fighting climate change. In their project, they explore the “geopolitical consequences of salmon. Firms from the global North farm salmon in the global South. This is precisely the problem: salmon is not native to the southern hemisphere, yet it is farmed there for the global market. These and other questions are addressed in the interactive play Salm Ethos, which will be performed three times during the exhibition (20 September, 1 October and 29 October).

Zheng Bo, Matthias Rillig, The Political Life of Plants 2, 2023, Installation, Experimental Ecology, KBH.G. Photo: Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G

The Political Life of Plants 2

The artist Zheng Bo and the biologist Matthias C. Rilling discuss the relationship between humans and plants. To do this, they include the biology, economics, communication and politics of plants and the accumulation of plastic in soils and the water environment. How do plants change due to climate change, how do they adapt, and how can humans take their perspective? Revering perspectives and roles reveals plants in a whole new way.

Riikka Tauriainen & Meike Vogt, Plankton Imaginary, 2023, Installation, Experimental Ecology, KBH.G. Photo: Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G

Drifting into the Plankton Imaginary (see also: Microscopia. Le plancton, du Léman à l’océan)

What role does plankton play in the marine ecosystem and regulating Earth’s climate? With this question in mind, the artist Riikka Tauriainen, climate researcher, and marine ecologist Meike Vogt immerse us in the imaginary world of plankton. “Plankton is sensitive to environmental changes, and its condition corresponds to the well-being of all marine life. The fact that phytoplankton, driven by photosynthesis, provides up to 50 per cent of our oxygen supply and binds large amounts of carbon dioxide is a service for which we should all be grateful.” A workshop on the exhibition project will take place on 21 October.

Martina Huber and Gianni Jetzer (and the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G)  are convinced that art can trigger change: “Today, ecology is a wide field of knowledge in which interesting subcategories have emerged. In the last decade, the impact of humans on the Earth’s biosphere has become a pressing issue that is being addressed at various levels. However, artistic and scientific approaches are often separated because there is hardly any space for exchange. We want to change that.”