Changing landscapes. Collection exhibition
February 6 – April 11, 2010
The urban sprawl of the Swiss landscape incessantly forges ahead and stretches up to the Alpine valleys and the Jura mountains. The “urban penetration” makes itself noticeable in the mountain landscapes. The concrete and steel structures of the Alpine infrastructures strongly alter the appearance of mountains and valleys. The works in this year's collection exhibition impressively attest to this alteration. With partly idyllic, but also utopian depictions from the 19th century up to the present, the artists illustrate the transformation, evolution and the disappearance of entire landscapes. The exhibition is supplemented with more works by Reto Camenisch, Rainer Eisch, Christian Helmle, Monica Ursina Jäger and Reto Steiner. The other works displayed are by Bruno Augsburger, Johann Caspar Dikenmann, Emilienne Farny, Alfred Glaus, Vidya Gastaldon, Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Max Matter, Otto Morach, Marquard Wocher and others.
Susan Hefuna – Bharti Kher – Fred Tomaselli: Between the worlds
May 1 – June 27, 2010
The works of Susan Hefuna, Bharti Kher and Fred Tomaselli are characterised by a recourse to cultural, traditional and religious references. Bharti Kher (*1969, Delhi and London) glues Indian bindis (tiny dots or other shapes traditionally worn on the forehead by Indian women) directly on the pictorial surface or on sculptures. Susan Hefuna (*1962, Cairo and Düsseldorf) uses Mashrabiyas, well-known in Arabia, carved from wood as carriers for picture and words, and Fred Thomaselli (*1956, New York) has mainly used pills and hemp leaves in collages. All three of them develop ornamental pictorial worlds between fiction and reality out of small-size particles. By means of the use of techniques like carving, gluing or collages, they also raise questions about art and craft. Kunstmuseum Thun is the first Swiss institution to exhibit large groups of work of the three internationally recognised artists.
Utopia and everyday life. Between art and participative approaches
July 17 – September 5, 2010
“The reference to the everyday life remains the horizon of every pedagogic analysis” – M. Gadotti. That is the starting point of an experiment in which artists, local groups and the institution of the museum with curator and art conveyor participate. Visual examinations that unfold in our rooms of the former Grand Hotel emerge in the collaborative process. The goal is to give food for thought for the conveyance of art. The test lab seeks a debate between participants and the audience. The idea and first draft originated in the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva, which shows their results in an exhibition that lasts till February 2010. Kunstmuseum Thun adopts the idea and the issues of “utopia in everyday life” and re-interprets them with other artists and local groups. An archive illuminates the social, political and ecological dimensions of art and pedagogy.
John Wood & Paul Harrison: No beginning – No middle – No end
September 25 – November 28, 2010
The two British artists, John Wood (*1969) and Paul Harrison (*1966), work together since 1993. They are known for their cinematic works, but they also engage in photography and drawing. Most of it are short video works, in which they faithfully connect seriousness and absurdity. Their minimalist, sculptural, installative and choreographed stagings oscillate between collapse, calculation and chance. However, they always take aim at the systematic order of things. In the differing environment of their videos, small everyday objects or gestures obtain new functions and connotations and thereby grant something unforeseen and unexpected for the viewer. The exhibition was created in cooperation with IKON in Birmingham and Château Rochechouart in Limoges and was adapted for the Kunstmuseum. It is the only solo presentation of the artist duo in German-speaking countries.
Hofstettenstrasse 2010
December 19 – January 23, 2011
The Kunstmuseum Thun annually presents an overview of the artistic creation in the region. The artists apply with documentations of their works and make concrete proposals of how they want to participate in this year’s exhibition. Based on the presented portfolios, a jury consisting of two external jurors (artist or art expert), two members from the region (artist or art expert) and the director of the Kunstmuseum Thun, selects a number of works which are displayed in the museum rooms in a curated exhibition before and after the turn of the year.
