30.08.15
– 15.11.15
prolonged until 10 January 2016
Both fascinating and forbidding, the theme of «night» has always been an engine of philosophy, literature, and the visual arts. The exhibition Nocturnal Images shows how artists of different periods have dealt with the absence of light, how they evoke nocturnal moods and treat objects and symbols associated with the night. The exhibition includes paintings, objects, photographs, and videos from the museum’s collection, as well as selected loans.
The aesthetics of the night is inextricably linked with the use of light sources: the moon, stars, candles, and lamps create strong contrasts. In our exhibition this is illustrated by works of artists such as Caspar Wolf, Max Burgmeier and Otto Wyler. To Ernst Maass, Ilse Weber, and Marianne Engel, the night is a vessel for dreams and mysticism. In Pietro Mattioli’s works overlooked corners and traces of everyday life are caught in the camera’s flashlight, while Georg Aerni, Hans Baumgartner, Clemens Klopfenstein, Eric Hattan and Gian Paolo Minelli, focus their photo and film cameras on the «big city at night»: fleeting poetic nocturnal images contrast with impressively lit architectural shots. The video Eighteen (2013) by Hubbard / Birchler is shown for the first time in Europe.
