Museum der Kulturen Basel, Switzerland: Suspended - On the Lightness of Stone
26 April 2012 to 15 July 2012
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What do myths and legends focussing on the process of becoming, being, and passing have to do with the folds of the new museum roof? And what do stones have to do with lightness? The exhibition "Suspended - On the Lightness of Stone" brings together and juxtaposes anthropological issues and statements expressed through art in an inspiring, floating manner, so to speak.
The exhibition "Suspended - On the Lightness of Stone" features mobile installations by the South African artist Justin Fiske. With the help of hundreds of pebbles collected from the banks of the Rhine, joined together and suspended from the ceiling, Fiske has created a series of fascinating installations which can be set in motion by the viewers. The animated stones appear to be floating in mid-air, defying gravity. Next to that, Fiske's installations enter into a playful, sensuous dialogue with selected ethnographic objects from the museum's collections and the remarkable roof architecture designed by Herzog & de Meuron.
Grasping the mechanism
For the exhibition Justin Fiske and curator Franziska Jenni assembled artefacts from a large range of cultures. Grouped into eight separate stations, they provide insight into the unbelievable richness of material culture. Since time immemorial, material objects have helped to lend human beings a sense of identity on their journey through life. Although the different stations make reference to specific cultures on the basis of the objects' origins, they actually address panhuman issues. Throughout history and across cultures, humans have tried to explain and understand the world around them by means of myths and legends, creating myriad forms and versions in an attempt to give expression to the forces of good and evil and to understand the mechanism underlying the process of becoming, being, and passing.
Contact:
Pierre-Alain Jeker, Public Relations
Museum der Kulturen Basel
Münsterplatz 20
CH-4001 Basel
Phone: +41/61/266'56'34
Fax: +41/61/266'56'05
Web: http://www.mkb.ch