Save the date !
On Friday, October 21, starting at 6:00 pm, the opening of our next cycle of exhibitions will be held.
Our mission to address issues related to the current debate, by bringing together the historical artists of the collection and more contemporary voices, continues with a reflection on the thorny and alarming environmental theme.
We can only observe that water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. In August 2020, following a prolonged heat wave, we saw the Saut du Doubs, the highest waterfall in the Jura mountains, dry up. This summer, it was the turn of the Brenets lake to dry up.
The exhibited artists show different concerns related to the theme of water, using various artistic techniques and methods, to tell the story of the harmful effects of human intervention on our fragile ecosystem.
At a time when no one suspected the future of our planet, the Neuchâtel painter Lermite, exhibited on the 3rd floor, was interested in the vital and inseparable relationship between water and human beings.
The ambiguity of the feelings aroused by the images of the renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky, at once sublime and frightening, is explored on the 1st and 2nd floors, with the exhibition Eaux Troublées. His monumental, aerial photographs depict the effects of human behavior on the landscape as we constantly seek to control and exploit it. By offering an unusual view, the artist presents us with the current state of our world.
While ecological activism and the fundamental role of local activist communities in the fight against the exploitation of mineral resources in Chile’s subsoil is at the heart of Ignacio Acosta’s video work, Inverting the Monolith, presented on the first floor.
Also on the same floor is Bienvenue Studios, winner of the MBAL 2021 Emerging Artist Award, part of the Triennial of Contemporary Print Art. The young duo of Xiaoqun Wu and Oliver Hischier present the installation Into Mountains: Wear Your Mirror, inspired by the rituals practiced by hikers before venturing onto the mountain peaks during the Chinese Jin Dynasty.
The MBAL continues its commitment to rewrite an inclusive art history with a participatory project, where the works of ten women artists from our collection were the subject of video capsules. Produced by students from the École d’Arts Appliquées de la Chaux-de-Fonds, they are presented in the museum’s café area.
Enjoy your visit !
Federica Chiocchetti
