Expo.02
15 May – 20 October 2002
www.expo.02.ch
As with any national exhibition, the need to include something for everyone means that the occasional thrilling and innovative contribution is often lost amongst mostly conventional exhibits. This is very much the case with Expo.02, except that the good is very good and the average is at least entertaining.
The layout is simple: four, themed arteplages (literally art beaches) transform the towns of Yverdon-les-Bains, Murten-Morat, Neuchâtel and Biel-Bienne on the shores of the Three Lakes Region, while a fifth mobile arteplage, the Jura, sails between the other four sites. The jewel in the crown is an experimental structure which sets the tone for each venue.
At Murten, The Monolith (a twelve-storey
steel cube designed by Parisian architect Jean Nouvel) floats imposingly on
Lake Morat. The vastness of the building only becomes evident when inside,
where Louis Braun’s The Panorama of the Battle of Morat – one of the few
existing cyclorama paintings from the 1890s – encircles the uppermost level
of its cavernous hull. The painting’s historical context is made immediate
when compared to the town’s modern-day landscape which is seen through
perforations in the walls below the painting. In this way Nouvel cleverly
interprets Murten’s expo theme of ‘Instant and Eternity’. To the south west,
Yverdon-les Bains hosts Diller + Scofidio’s structure, The Cloud.
The great misting machine overlooks a number of exhibits which explore the
theme of ‘The Universe and I’, such as Oui!, which examines the union of
individuals but whose actual experience is shrouded in secrecy (oddly,
because participants universally refuse to discuss it). In contrast, Onoma
looks at Swiss locations related by name, while SIGNALPAIN – which has
overtones of Susan Hiller’s Witness (2000) – broadcasts personal anecdotes
of pain in a bid to bridge a personal connection with the visitor.
Most exhibits are narrated in French, German or Italian; however, those with an international angle also feature English translations. At Biel-Bienne, the tongue-in-cheek Money and Value – The Last Taboo tackles the concept of money from disparate angles such as its effect on health and as an icon, while Max Dean’s robotic arm shreds hundreds of Swiss francs daily, challenging the public’s own relationship with monetary value. Other thought-provoking exhibitions include the Palais de l’Equilibre at Neuchâtel, which looks at the last decade’s progress in global sustainable development and Murten’s Blindkuh, based on the popular Zurich restaurant, which allows the seeing public to experience what it is to be blind. Meanwhile, Territoire Imaginaire at Biel-Bienne uses imaginary scenarios to challenge native identity: for example, what Switzerland would look like if all its glaciers melted and the ice became sea water.
Alexia Economou