Littmann Kulturprojekte

2004

Punktleuchten, Basel 2004

With their situational installations, 22 national and international artists have transformed the premises of the former Basel tourist office - the future extension of the Three Kings Hotel on the Rhine - into an urban narrative space for various types of artistic and cultural expression. Punktleuchten brings together ideas, imagination and intervention and, with specific references to place, time and perception, has produced a panorama of contemporary art forms. It goes straight to the heart of the debate on ubaneness, anonymity, architecture and alienation, provoking new insights and a fresh outlook. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.

Involved Artists:

Alfonso Hüppi (DE), Hyun-Mee Ahn (KR), Bernhard Kahrmann (DE), Peti Brunner (CH), Carlo Aloe (CH), Dominique Jehle (CH), Johannes Hüppi (DE), Peter Knapp (CH), Magdalena Jetelova (CZ), Werner von Mutzenbecher (DE), Thomas Roppelt (DE), Guillaume Bijl (BE), Franz Burkhardt (DE), Christian Vogt (CH), Holger Bunk (DE), Mark Divo (CH), Daniele Buetti (IT), Ingo Giezendanner alias GRRRR (CH), Ichiro Sueoka (JP), Philip Loersch (DE), Paul Thuile (IT), Andro Wekua (GE), Christo and Jeanne Claude (BG/MA)

The Project

This is the story of a cultural adventure, and of all that could be done with a temporarily empty bank building in Basel before it came back to life as part of one of the finest hotels to be found anywhere. It was due to the ideas of Klaus Littmann that this impressive old building looking out on the Rhine became the site of a public exhibition of art and culture. He invited 23 artists to put on a show in the rooms of the empty building.

With the jazz department of Basel’s Hochschule für Musik, and the temporarily homeless Basler Literaturhaus, Klaus Littmann brought together a program of events that for several months increased the attraction of the place and what it had to offer.There were concerts, readings, debates, video presentations. There were quiet evenings and riotous ones, enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. There was a "theological dispute“, there were conversations and writings on the subject of "cursive thinking“. There was "Jazz in Basel NOW!“ with musical performances in different styles by many groups.

Ultimately it was the passion felt by so many for art, and the enthusiasm of those involved in the exhibition and the public alike, that made the „Punktleuchten“ project into a cultural event to linger in the memory.

Hans-Peter Platz, Journalist and Author