The Garden of Forking Paths –
An outdoor sculpture project on the Blum family estate in Samstagern (Zurich)
Pablo Bronstein – Liz Craft – Ida Ekblad – Geoffrey Farmer – Kerstin Kartscher – Ragnar Kjartansson – Fabian Marti – Peter Regli – Thiago Rocha Pitta
2 May–30 October 2011
Opening part I on Sunday, 1 May 2011, 2–6pm, with Pablo Bronstein, Liz Craft, Fabian Marti, Peter Regli and Thiago Rocha Pitta.
Opening part II on Sunday, 10th July 2011, 5–9pm, additionally with Ida Ekblad, Geoffrey Farmer, Kerstin Kartscher and Ragnar Kjartansson.
During the summer months, the migros museum für gegenwartskunst sculpture project The Garden of Forking Paths will be a guest on the Froh Ussicht estate, owned by the Blum family in Samstagern, Zurich. The project alludes to the Sacro Bosco in Bomarzo (Italy), the enchanted Renaissance garden, which features sculptures shrouded in mystery, and eccentric architecture that over time became overgrown (so-called “follies”). The invited artists will create their own fantastic narratives. The project title refers to a story by Argentinean novelist Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), indicating the analogy between imagination and spatial structures, in which he described the labyrinth as possibly the most fundamental human experience. Entwined with the ideas from the enchanted garden of Sacro Bosco, the project yields a mythical, cerebral cosmos, in which the artists integrate their work in their own ways.The project has been split into two parts. Work by five artists will be presented on May 1st 2011. Pablo Bronstein (born, 1977, Argentina/Great Britain) will feature a pavilion in the style of courtly decadence, in which the aria Qui del Sol gl’infausti lampi from the opera Agar et Ismaele Esiliati (1684) by the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) will be performed. The architectonic sculpture by Liz Craft (born, 1970, USA), erected on a hill near the farm, has strong surrealistic traits, recalling M. C. Escher’s (1898-1972) phantasmagorical architectonic drawings. Fabian Marti (born, 1979, Switzerland) has produced a colourful hothouse of glass cubes, in which thrive poisonous plants that can produce hallucinogenic effects when consumed. In this work he makes reference to the experimental New Age period of the 1960s and 1970s. Peter Regli’s (born, 1959 Switzerland) disproportionately large white marble snowman opens an almost childlike and playful perspective on the idea of monuments. Thiago Rocha Pitta (born, 1980 Brazil) has sunk a sailing ship into the hilly landscape which, as a petrified ruin, speaks of failure and decay, and a reversal of the elemental order, in which a ship, rather than sinking into the sea, is buried into the Swiss earth.
Part II additionally with Ida Ekblad, Geoffrey Farmer, Kerstin Kartscher and Ragnar Kjartansson.
Curator of the project: Heike Munder
PUBLICATION: An anthology will be produced for the project in September 2011, published by JRP|Ringier, with contributions by a.o. Lars Bang Larsen, Michael Bracewell, Brian Dillon, Heike Munder, Anthony Vidler and Catherine Wood.
SPECIAL EVENT/BOOKLAUNCH/SYMPOSIUM: on Sunday, 4th September 2011, 2–6pm
PERFORMANCE BY PABLO BRONSTEIN: on Sunday, 1st May, 10th July, 14th August, 4th September, 2nd and 30th October
ESPECIALLY FOR THE ART BASEL: on Saturday, 11th June and Sunday, 12th June
PRESS: for visual material and more information please contact: presse@migrosmuseum.ch
OPENING HOURS: Mon-Fri 10am–6pm without contact persons (visitor information can be found at the estate); Sat/Sun Midday–6pm with contact persons and service by the family Blum
VISITOR ADDRESS
Froh Ussicht
Blum family
CH-8833 Samstagern
CONTACT ADDRESS
migros museum für gegenwartskunst
Limmatstrasse 270
8005 Zürich
T. +41 44 277 20 50
F. +41 44 277 62 86
info@migrosmuseum.ch
www.frohussicht.ch
www.migrosmuseum.ch
The migros museum für gegenwartskunst is an institution of the Migros Culture Percentage.
www.migrosmuseum.ch
