Interkulturelle / -generationelle Begegnungen, I

(Intercultural / -generational Encounters)

When I moved to Thun, I was pleasantly surprised to find a small but thriving diverse cultural community made up of people of all ages and cultures, both Swiss and non-Swiss. I‘ll expand more on the details of the various activities and groups I‘m involved with in another post — for now, I want to focus on an interesting workshop that I attended this past weekend at the Kunstmuseum Thun.

RaumFrei is the latest cultural offering here in Thun. A series of creative „labs,“ („Labor“), professionals lead those interested in a day or a weekend focused on themes. October‘s offering was dance, and there are plans for forest wanderings, writing workshops and experimental design.

The project lasts until summer 2020 and is organised partnership with the cultural arm of the city of Thun, and „und“ GenerationenTandem, an association that aims to bring young and old together in dialogue and social activity.

Flyer courtesy of RaumFrei for the MusikTheaterLabor held at
Kunstmuseum Thun, 2-3 November

Artist and musician Claudia Kühne led the MusikTheaterLabor. We were based in Kunstmuseum Thun‘s latest exhibition, Sophie Calle‘s „Regard Incertain“ (English: Uncertain Outlook, German: Unsicher Blick).

The majestic foyer of Thunerhof,
a former 19th-century grand hotel.

The exhibition itself is unique — definitely not a pop-in-for-a-few-minutes-on-my-lunch-break type of affair! Yes, Sophie Calle provides a lot of (French) text to put her works in context, and yes, you have to read a lot. Each room or small series of rooms is carefully curated around a shared theme or idea, and the running thread is the „regard“ / sight / seeing / being seen. I highly recommend getting a guided tour from one of the Kunstmuseum‘s wonderful staff. The exhibition is highly personal, witty, thought-provoking and emotional. Her „subjects“ are every-day people — not artists, or experts, or celebrities. The voices echoing through her works are not just her own, but herself in dialogue with the museum-going public, museum workers and security guards, city-dwellers, blind people, bank customers ...

How does music come in? Who were we, the culturally curious who joined in this music-theatre-lab? We were an ideal size, about 10 of us, with kids as young as 4 or 5 to pensioners in their 70s and older, both Swiss and non-Swiss. The workshop was conducted in German, but we had some native French speakers to help clarify the nuances of the exhibition.

Unless it‘s deliberately part of the exhibition, sound and music are not usually an essential part of a typical visit to a modern or contemporary art exhibition or museum. On the first day, after an in-depth tour, we were asked to walk around in a group, some splitting off if needed — we carried small hand-held instruments, mostly percussion, the kind you would find in a school music class. One of us had a violin. We improvised with each other, improvising — it was cacophonous. I‘m pretty sure some of the visitors were annoyed with the noise! But it was fab — making that much noise, reacting to the art works, to the space (the Kunstmuseum is housed in a former 19th century grand hotel), to each other.

The second day, we were split into 3 groups, each creating a final „performance,“ a musical, theatrical reaction to one of the rooms, or one art-work. An African thumb piano note resembles the shutter click of a camera. A small Tibetan singing bowl echoes like a ghost. Even the creaks in the historic floor provided tone, rhythm and atmosphere not found in other spaces.

My favourite performance was in what is probably the most-loved room of the exhibition. Sophie Calle took long-time residents of Istanbul, who, for some reason or another, have not seen the sea. Imagine, living in a metropolis, surrounded by water, but never seeing the sea?

These types of activities are made to be accessible to everyone, but not everyone chooses to participate. Every „Labor“ in the RaumFrei project is free of charge and open to donations. I‘m glad I went — the Kunstmuseum is fast becoming one of my favourite cultural institutions, and not just because it‘s my „local.“  This was not only a chance to practice my growing confidence in German, but get to know my fellow Thun neighbours, young and old.

(All links in German. All photos mine, unless otherwise noted.)