Art in the City

Art in the City.

Artworks in the public domain.

There is an art to having so much art.

When it comes to an enthusiasm for art, the city of Basel can look back over a long tradition. The first public art collection in Europe was initiated here in 1661, forming the basis of what was later to become the Kunstmuseum Basel. In the 1960s the citizens agreed by referendum to use public funds to purchase two works by Picasso, thus ensuring that they would remain in the Kunstmuseum – quite a unique state of affairs. When the artist was informed of this he donated four more works to the city.

When it comes to museum lovers, one thing is quite clear: Basel is not a city that can be discovered in a hurry, the reason being about 40 culturally very diverse museums. Quite a few of Basel’s museums are known well beyond the country’s borders for their important collections and their exquisite exhibitions. They have also reinforced Basel’s reputation as a unique art and museum landscape, with buildings designed by internationally renowned architects. The magnets are the Fondation Beyeler, the Museum Tinguely, and the Kunstmuseum Basel with the adjoining Museum für Gegenwartskunst.

For over 40 years now, Basel has also been home to the world’s leading international art fair, Art Basel.

Art can also be encountered in Basel during a stroll around town: Richard Serra, Jonathan Borofsky, Jean Tinguely or Pablo Picasso are just a few of the artists whose works have shaped the image of the city.

They have meantime become such a self-evident part of the everyday lives of its citizens that they could no longer imagine their city without them. This brochure would like to accompany you on a walk to the most beautiful artworks in the city. Whether you live here and pass them every day, or are visiting Basel for the very first time, you are sure to discover many exciting things. We hope you enjoy your stay in Basel!

Daniel Egloff Director of Basel Tourism

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Carl Nathan Burckhardt Amazon leading a horse 1927

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13 Alexander Zschokke Teacher and Pupil 1945

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16 Samuel Buri Gänseliesel 1978 17 Rémy Zaugg An accessway to the State Archives in a state of becoming 1999 18 Bettina Eichin Market Stall 1986–1991 19 Alexander Zschokke The Three Ages of Life 1941 20 Pablo Picasso Homme aux bras écartés 2007 21 Luciano Fabro Giardino all’italiana 1994 22 Jonathan Borofsky Hammering Man 1989 23 Armand Peterson und Hans Eduard Linder Fountain with Crow 1923 24 Paul Wilde Billsticker 1924 25 Erik Steinbrecher Folk and Polka 2008

Striking Signs at the Heart of Basel.

1 The names of the ten sculptures: Theatre-headstone / Spider / Bouncer / Fountain / Sprayer / Dasher / Jiggle / Shoveller / Sieve / Flautist 2

1 It is a spray fountain and a performance all in one, a celebration of carnival in Basel, a funny death dance and a wheelwork full of poetry: after its inauguration in 1977, the Carnival Fountain, usually called the Tinguely Fountain, immediately became an integral part of downtown Basel. At the time, it was also a gesture of retribution: the fountain is located on the site of the stage of the Old Theatre, whose demolition the people of Basel had not taken very kindly to. Using remnants of the former theatre building’s decoration as frames for his ten protagonists was a clever move by Jean Tinguely. The performance by this unusual theatre troupe persists as the seasons change, inviting people to enjoy an open-air concert.

Theaterplatz

2 Intersection by American artist Richard Serra enters into an elective affinity with Basel. There is a vague correspondence between these huge steel sails and the gable of the Stadttheater. The sculpture’s volumes are enclosed by winding corridors, as Serra explores the relationship between inside and outside, providing a new yardstick for one’s movements. Acoustic perception also plays a role here. The work was originally placed here in 1992 as a temporary contribution to an exhibition. Then a private initiative presented the monument to the public. Its location on this relatively small terrace remains a matter of controversy to this very day.

Theaterplatz

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3 One could think that René Küng’s Large Moon Ladder would have a hard time asserting its presence between Richard Serra’s sculpture and the theatre’s rising roof. Yet it certainly occupies its own space, while its curves delineate a pathway to the sky: an archaic sign in front of a band of digital lettering running horizontally behind it and briefly announcing the daily programme at the opera house and the theatre.

Theaterplatz

4 There are no windows in the wall opposite the neo-gothic Elisabethenkirche. This back wall of the Kunsthalle proffers space for large artistic interventions.

At yearly intervals, local and international artists take up the challenge offered by this platform and thus throw up a bridge from the exhibition venue to the public domain. From the steps leading to Theaterplatz we can survey a conglomeration of very different functions: an area to be crossed, a public transportation stop, a place for resting in, and not least, a site for art.

Back wall of the Kunsthalle

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5 Heuwaage is where a number of streets converge and depart in all directions. Lieudit (Locality) by the Basel artist Michael Grossert is a strikingly colourful sign that creates a very special place.

Here, painting and sculpture, tectonics and organic shapes form an alliance. In 1976 this was something very new, indeed provocative for Basel: only a few weeks after it had been unveiled, the work was vandalised, so friends of the artist’s got together and painted the opulent form anew.

Heuwaage

6 Catching sight of art is not just the prerogative of car-drivers circling the old city centre on the viaduct. Paul Suter’s large, three-part metal sculpture, Untitled, also makes an impact from down below, as it leans, daringly large, over the balustrade, taking up the dynamism of the motorised traffic and outlining other traffic lanes in the air.

Heuwaage, Viaduct

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Playful Reversal.

7 One would really have to shun gravity and walk on the ceiling, as only then would the pedestriancrossing stripes in the passage between Theaterstrasse and BirsigParkplatz be in the right place and the posters left and right of it at the right height. Luege-loselaufe (Look, listen, go) – these are the instructions given to children for crossing the street.

This artistic intervention questions the direction things are read in while also reversing above and below.

Passage Theaterstrasse /BirsigParkplatz

8 Not only in Basel do shady alleyways provide scope for murals, especially ones not officially commissioned. Steinenbachgässlein has already seen a number of such unauthorised graffiti.

The artist-duo Copa & Sordes took advantage of this circumstance.

Their ironic citation of Baroque reliefs is called Empty Aesthetic and uses motifs borrowed from youth and street culture. The work has been carried out in glass. As a result, the facade of the Berufsund Frauenfachschule is washable, yet still makes contact with the unpredictable creative drive that may be lurking in its surroundings.

Steinenbachgässlein 30

Monuments tell Stories.

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9 High on a plinth at the top of the steps up to Kohlenberg, Georg the Knight sits on horseback, naked, upright and relaxed. Although not even life-size, the silhouette of the elegant bronze figure by Carl Nathan Burckhardt is still striking from a distance. It doesn’t seem all that important that he is supposed to be the saint who slayed the dragon. What counts is that he is the victor. He blithely overcomes his serpent-like opponent, more with ruse than with muscle power.

The steps at Kohlenberg

10 “That’s him to a T” you might say, were he still walking the streets of Basel: Dr. Rudolf Riggenbach (1882–1961) was a lover of the arts, a researcher and a publicist, as well as a regular at the nearby “Braunen Mutz” on Barfüsserplatz. The stocky man with his coat usually hanging open, his pockets full of papers and his cigar lit, was official curator of monuments for Canton Basel-Stadt from 1932 to 1952.

Peter Moilliet raised a monument to him – in the hope that this original character might continue to stand up for the cultural heritage of Basel.

Leonhardskirchplatz

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11 Since when do emergency lights cast black Soot-Shadows, and how come there are traces of fire on the large lintel at the exit of the fire station, of all places?

Art often has some tricky claims at the ready, and once you have discovered Guido Nussbaum’s devious drawing, you are not likely to forget the signs he has placed high above your field of vision.

Kornhausgasse 18

12 ARION, OMAR, SCHWARZER TEUFEL, SILBERPFEIL: resonant names guide

pedestrians across Rosshof-Hof, the site of a former livery yard or stable. The horses Hannes Vogel summons into the arena are from the world of literature. Here their names are written in capital letters on marble bands forming concentric arcs between the old residential and the new university buildings. Protagonists from works

by Nikolai Gogol, Tanja Blixen, Henry Miller or Karl May, they conjure up temporal, cultural and linguistic spaces far beyond this particular district. On the borderline between the inner city and the periphery, an order prevails that, like every literary idea, tends to extend far beyond boundaries.

Rosshof, Auf der Lyss (at the corner of Petersgraben/ Rosshofgasse)

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13 For more than 40 years, the Basel sculptor and painter Alexander Zschokke participated in competitions organised by the Kunstkredit, a promotional agency that grants public commissions to mainly local artists. Zschokke’s altogether noble image of man is clearly influenced by ancient classical models and by the sacred sculpture of the Middle Ages. It was predestined, therefore, for the new university building on Petersgraben: the larger-than-life stone work Teacher and Pupil (1945) expresses humility, discipline and a dignified willingness to accept the legacy of the sciences.

Main building of the University of Basel, Petersplatz 1

14 “The girl should be holding the hanging reins tightly in her fist” we read in a later evaluation.

The fact that Carl Nathan Burckhardt was unable to complete his Amazon leading a horse in no way diminishes the strength of its expressiveness. Both steadfast and moving, his playful reinterpretation of the classical equestrian statue has been resisting the elements at this particular spot since 1927. Facing unwaveringly in the direction of the centre of Grossbasel, she turns her back on the expanse of the Rhine and the view of the other bank, i.e., the St. Johann district and the architecture of the chemicals industry.

Schifflände

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Cultures on the Move.

15 It is certainly conceivable, and Basel even has an image for it: the steadfast symbol of the Swiss Nation takes to the road.

Bettina Eichin has taken Helvetia not only from the coin but also from her plinth and placed her on the projection of a wall on the Kleinbasel side of the Rhine.

Helvetia on the Journey has set down her suitcase and shield in the middle of town so as to gaze pensively downstream. This pose, both restful and melancholic, contains a criticism of the heroic self-image of the nation state – and an image of woman on which opinions still differ.

Terrace on the Kleinbasel side of the Mittlere Rheinbrücke

16 Gänseliesel (Goose Girl) by the Basel artist Samuel Buri, located along the steep path called the Rheinsprung, is a work in progress: the artist has left his black-andwhite model and his tools on the narrow plank of the scaffold. Whatever the weather, the scaffolding rods cast their shadow on the wall and speak merrily of the miracle of painting. Gänseliesel opens up the wall, like a window, and gathers the past into the present, captivating us through the illusion she so candidly represents.

Rheinsprung 7

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Culture of Commemoration.

17 The City Archives necessarily involve the process of becoming, especially as archives have changed from being static historicalantiquarian institutions to being public agencies relevant to the present. The artwork Zugang zum Staatsarchiv im Werden (an accessway to the State Archives in a state of becoming) aims to acknowledge this self-image by confronting the historical archive building with a contemporary idiom. Thanks to Rémy Zaugg, everything belonging to the building, the landscape, the city, the body or the universe, is “becoming”: the roof, the hill, the crossing or the Milky Way, inlaid in metal script, conjure up impressions which no archive will ever be able to fully grasp.

Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt, Martinsgasse 2

18 This opulent vegetable and flower stall was initially intended for the Market Square. And the Market Stall was originally a work commissioned by the Sandoz company, who wanted to celebrate its 150th anniversary by presenting it to the public. The fire catastrophe of 1 November 1986 in Basel, however, put an end to that. The artist Bettina Eichin integrated that industrial accident into her design, along with Johann Peter Hebel’s poem “Die Vergänglichkeit” (Transience), whereupon the company distanced itself from the work. It was years before the necessary funds and the final location here in the Kleine Kreuzgang were found for the stall – an homage to life’s proliferation and a memento of death.

Cloistered courtyard of Basel cathedral

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19 Water sprays in fine jets from the edge into the granite basin and spills over the lower rim of the bronze cylinder – the fountain recalls the Rhine, which can be crossed from here in no time at all.

Pushing their way along in a dubious parade are goats, children, masks, cyclists, swimmers and dogs.

All year long they recall the Basel carnival, spewing water from their mouths, eyes and noses as they do so. Above all this tumult, The Three Ages of Life represent the seriousness of life – and the artist’s expectation of the sculpture of his time. Everything visible was to be the bearer of a superior, significant message.

St. Alban-Graben / Dufourstrasse

20 Basel and Picasso – an unusual liaison. Thanks to a referendum held in 1967, two of the artist’s key paintings, Les deux frères (1906) and Arlequin assis (1923), are part of the public art collection.

The “Yes” given to the public loan motivated Picasso to himself donate another four works to the city. Reason enough to call the square behind the Kunstmuseum after that master of modernism.

His Homme aux bras écartés is an enlarged, weather-resistant version of an original work which was cut out of paper and folded, and was only a few centimetres high.

Picassoplatz

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21 Is it a garden? A square? A fragment of a southern landscape which found its way to Basel?

Some interim space? The trees could be sculptures, and the ground cover with the integrated lights could be an image of the sky. And in that sky, the new offices built in 1991 for the architects Diener & Diener look like a boat on undulating waves. Luciano Fabro lets the raw material in his Giardino all’italiana have its say; the design of this space seeks its model in the phenomena of nature.

Dufourstrasse

22 The artwork chosen for the, at the time, new building of the Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft (today UBS) has to do with gainful employment. Jonathan Borofsky’s Hammering Man is an outsized image of the frenzy of activity in our world. The huge black giant, seen mainly in silhouette, manages three to four slow-motion hammer blows per minute. He developed from a drawing to a monumental outdoor sculpture made of Corten steel and aluminium. This full-time worker has brothers: one stands in front of the grounds of the Fair in Frankfurt am Main, and using this same symbol Borofsky has also left his mark on other centres of economic activity in Seattle, Seoul and Washington.

Aeschenplatz 6

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Our Image of Man is our Image of the World.

23 The transformer house, the square in front of it, the tram stop simply would not be the same without that black crow on the acorn at the top of the fountain shaft, keeping watch over the pipe and the trough. With wings half spread, it observes everyone who drinks or washes their hands here. And it is in good company: the Kunstkredit, a cantonal promotional agency, together with the Water Suppliers have been decorating Basel’s fountains with likeable animal figures for decades.

Aeschenplatz (corner of Aeschenvorstadt / Aeschengraben)

24 Once again, albeit on a smaller scale, a work on Aeschenplatz points to the significance of work.

Paul Wilde has placed a Billsticker on the advertising pillar. After all, how would the interested citizen know what was going on in the worlds of politics, art and culture, if that minor employee did not update the posters regularly? He himself seems to know the answer, and, with his large brush in his hand, strides along proudly, an identification figure for the working class.

Aeschenplatz (corner of Aeschenvorstadt / Aeschengraben)

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Keep out?

25 Unconventional display-gardens are capable of testing the relationship between inside and outside.

At first sight, the circular fences don’t look like artistic interventions, or do they? Folk and Polka revolve around wilderness and exclusion.

Erik Steinbrecher protects a stand of trees that screen the park from the heavy traffic on Nauenstrasse.

However, whereas a fence usually separates one’s own piece of tended ground from the uncontrolled wilderness of the neighbouring area, here the fence around a small rise with wild shrubbery and grass keeps out the well-mowed lawn.

Elisabethenpark

Many of the works in the public domain in Basel are the fruit of competitions organised by the agency Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt and are the property of the canton. Private initiatives and companies have also enabled donations to be made that constitute further striking signs throughout the city.

Colophon Published by: Basel Tourism, 2012 Text and editing: Isabel Zürcher Design Eva Bühler, vista point Photos: Christoph Bühler No. 4 Serge Hasenböhler

vista point

Basel Tourism Aeschenvorstadt 36 CH-4010 Basel Phone +41 (0)61 268 68 68 Fax +41 (0)61 268 68 70 info@basel.com www.basel.com