Museum der Kulturen Basel, former Europa Depot
Münsterplatz 20
Reto Pulfer creates installations using fabric, plants, drawings, paintings, and a variety of found objects. His project Tincti unfolds in the unpolished space of the former depot room of Museum der Kulturen. The immersive installation of curtains, furniture, and rusty metal objects creates an atmosphere that wavers between the homely and the ghost-like. The centrality of textiles in the installation – and in Pulfer’s wider practice – resonates with the provenance of the museum building, which was formerly owned by the prominent silk ribbon merchant Martin Bachofen. Interspersed in the space are wild plants – which are echoed in the natural plant dyes that color the textiles – in an arrangement that both evokes and is estranged from the aesthetic of home décor. The wild plants highlight a desire for freedom and the natural, aspects further investigated in the performances, in which the artist himself animates the installation through dance and live music in a manner echoing the Wilde Maa (wild man) from the Vogel Gryff festival (Festival of the Griffin), one of the oldest and most prominent annual processions in Basel, dating back to the Middle Ages.
Performance schedule:
Monday, June 10, 1pm to 5pm
Saturday, June 15, 6pm to 10pm
Thursday, June 13, 10am to 11am:
Talk with Reto Pulfer and Claire Hoffmann, Curator, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
