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Topping-out ceremony on 1 December 2003
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01.12.2003
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Excerpt of the presentation by Andreas Marti, Director of the Zentrum Paul Klee.
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The Zentrum Paul Klee has set itself two main objectives: firstly to explore by scientific means Paul Klee’s artistic, educational and theoretical work and its significance within the cultural and social context of its time, and secondly to make it accessible to all the visitors to the Zentrum Paul Klee.
Using a contemporary approach as well as new scientific interpretations and innovative methodological forms of presentation the Zentrum Paul Klee aims to harness Paul Klee’s creative potential as an impulse for today’s artistic and cultural work. Visitors will be able to gain new insights and experiences, and be encouraged to look more closely at the life and work of Paul Klee, thereafter returning time and again to the Zentrum Paul Klee.
Through its activities the Zentrum Paul Klee is to establish itself as the world’s centre of competence for research into and mediation of the life and work of Paul Klee and his influence. To achieve these objectives, the Zentrum Paul Klee is compiling a varied offer of exhibition and mediation programs structured according to the needs of visitors of different age groups and with different backgrounds and cultural interests.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The text you have just heard is taken from our Guiding Principle, which you will find reproduced in full in our new brochure. The objectives around which our activities revolve and the means we deploy in order to achieve them are not an “internal” matter; rather they concern you, too, our visitors. That is why we are communicating our guiding principle already today, and that is also why the Guiding Principle will be available at the Zentrum for the public to read and examine. It is to be the yardstick by which we intend to be measured – and in fact want to be measured if we are to operate the Zentrum Paul Klee not for ourselves but for a public we value and take seriously.
In just over a year and a half we shall be opening the Zentrum Paul Klee. We ask for your patience and understanding if we cannot yet give you in-depth information on every aspect. However the architectural idea and its implementation, which you can now see for yourselves today, would certainly not have been possible without precise notions of future operations. There were two starting points: firstly, the determination to convey adequately the work of Paul Klee, and secondly the vision of Prof. Maurice E. Müller and his wife Martha Müller-Lüthi to establish a cultural centre in Schöngrün site.
Corporate design, definitive name
Drawing up the Guiding Principle went hand in hand with developing the Corporate Design and establishing the definitive name. In the course of several presentations we were introduced to just under a dozen selected agencies and studios both in Switzerland and abroad, and from these we selected the partners we needed to develop the Corporate Design. We opted for Coande, Communication and Design in Zurich because its owner, Peter Vetter, was able to put together a convincing case before our jury of 14 members; it also boasts excellent international references. The logo is a stylised representation of what we see as we approach the building. We shall mark on the terrain outside the precise spot that offers this view. The logo’s movement and dynamics reflect Paul Klee’s language of shapes and forms. The four colours, which are derived from the works of Paul Klee, are to refer playfully and subtly to the diversity of everything on offer at the Zentrum.
Strategic marketing concept
The Guiding Principle provided the foundations on which we drew up a strategic marketing concept for the Zentrum Paul Klee. Marketing must not be reduced to the importance of sales strategy and therefore relegated to the margins in a cultural institution. Rather marketing is an attitude of mind, one that is of increasing importance especially for a cultural institution. Marketing means achieving objectives through planning that is in keeping with the needs of visitors, through the execution and monitoring of all activities. Marketing means positioning and communicating what is on offer in a way that reflects the needs of visitors, and marketing also means pricing and distribution in keeping with visitors’ requirements. Through its activities the Zentrum Paul Klee intends to reach segments of the population which so far have not been among regular museum-goers. That is why the marketing concept is such a crucial document, and applies to the Zentrum as a whole.
Overall mediation and staging concepts
The marketing concept is complemented by the overall mediation and staging concepts, which define the principles used to stage the offer. Staging is indeed the appropriate means for drawing up and conveying attractive collection presentations, temporary exhibitions, events and teaching programs. We want our guests to feel at home at the Zentrum Paul Klee, from the moment they enter to the moment they leave, and to create the ideal framework conditions for the mediation of art. Indeed before you can begin to enjoy and absorb new cultural experiences – not to mention return for repeated viewings – you need to feel at ease, both physically and emotionally. So staging is also a form of “well-being management”, which presumes the existence of an overriding dramatic and staging concept.
The structural and functional core
The structural and functional core of the Zentrum Paul Klee is the space on the ground floor of the middle hill, whose total surface area of around 1,700 square metres is entirely given over to the presentation of the life and work of Paul Klee. 300 works at a time are to go on show here in the course of regularly alternating presentations. With once-only visitors in mind these works will always be selected to include several highlights. The staging of the collection will also change on a regular basis to reveal the diversity of Klee’s universe and secure the loyalty of regional visitors. As a monographic or biographical museum the Zentrum Paul Klee attaches great value to showcasing Paul Klee’s life in a way that is attractive to the onlooker. Klee’s involvement with music, literature and the mediation of art and the way in which each of these fields influenced the others is also to be shown in the collection presentation. That is why visitors here will have the possibility of consolidating their understanding of the original work with additional information in electronic form, of listening to music, viewing films, and also of gaining an insight into Paul Klee’s way of working.
Some 800 square metres for temporary exhibitions
Some 800 square metres are available on the basement floor of the middle hill for temporary exhibitions. We intend to use that space to win over and secure regular visitors. The first temporary exhibition will be devoted to our collection’s history and how the Zentrum Paul Klee came to be. The program of temporary exhibitions for the first few years after 2006 is currently being drawn up and co-ordinated with the Art Muaseum of Bern. It has been our stated intention from the very start of the project to work together with the Art Museum and to plan a program of temporary exhibitions together. As soon as we know the form in which the two institutions are to merge, we will be able to address these issues more closely. The co-operation not only provides greater scope for action for both institutions, it is above all of greater benefit to the public.
Paul Klee and music
Few artists have had such close ties with music as Paul Klee. Paul Klee played violin to near-professional standard throughout his life, and as both a performer and a listener preferred a repertoire of masterpieces ranging from baroque to romantic. Paul Klee had mixed feelings about the music that was being composed during the first few decades of the 20th century, which is why he did not recognise the many similarities and in some cases direct links that exist between his work and the music of his day. By contrast the pictorial ideas of Paul Klee inspired many composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, among them Pierre Boulez, Hans Werner Henze, Sandor Veress and Jürg Wyttenbach.
Music programming
The concept for the Music programming of the Zentrum Paul Klee has been drawn up in co-operation with the Hochschule der Künste Bern, as envisioned by Martha Müller-Lüthi. It is based on the many crossover points between Paul Klee’s life and work and music, without being restricted to his personal experience of music. In addition the program will be structured in such a way as to link artistic aspects such as contemporaneity, synaesthesia, heterogeneity, improvisation or miniature. The Zentrum Paul Klee is to offer a music program that is unique in its kind and unmistakable, and positions itself clearly on the Swiss music scene. The auditorium provides the Zentrum with an ideal venue that is also available to guest ensembles from Switzerland and abroad.
Children’s Museum Kindermuseum
The Zentrum Paul Klee is a venue for education on aesthetics, a place of enjoyable learning, a forum of encounter and mediation of art and culture. One education mainstay of the Zentrum Paul Klee is its Kindermuseum. Its Director, Adrian Weber, began on the detailed concept work in October. I quote from his initial considerations: “The Kindermuseum will be open to everyone keen to experience art at a practical level. The requirement is not a particular age, but childlike curiosity and to desire to enter into a creative game with Paul Klee. At the Kindermuseum, approaches to his didactic legacy are to be perceived through all the senses. That is why looking after school groups and providing further training for the teaching body are of such importance.
The Klee Kindermuseum consists on the one hand of temporary exhibitions that provide an interactive and multimedia access platform to art. On the other it offers three spacious workshops for practical work with registered groups or leisure clubs. On the basis of pictorial design work the Kindermuseum provides interdisciplinary crossover points with music, literature, theatre, dance, architecture as well as anatomy and science. The very latest in didactic aids will be available to visitors for this purpose.
Although established as an independent foundation, the Kindermuseum corresponds with all the other offers available at the Zentrum Paul Klee. It also co-operates with the educational services of other museums at the national and international level. From its inauguration in 2005 onwards the Kindermuseum has set itself the objective of being recognised far and wide as a centre of competence for the mediation of Klee’s work.”
We look forward to a fruitful exchange with the mediation work of the Zentrum Paul Klee in the areas of collections, temporary exhibitions and communications with the Kindermuseum.
Sommerakademie im Zentrum Paul Klee (Summer Academy in Zentrum Paul Klee)
A further element in the mediation work of the Zentrum Paul Klee is the Summer Academy, whose founding by Bern Cantonal Bank (Berner Kantonalbak BEKB BCBE) has already been mentioned. Its designated Director, Prof. Dr. Norberto Gramaccini, full professor for the history of mediaeval art at Bern University, and a scientific assistant are to start with the preparatory work at the beginning of next year. The Academy is governed by the guiding principle of the Zentrum Paul Klee, and is to be held for the first time in summer 2006. Besides courses linked with strigent admission requirements for students it will also offer further education opportunities for a more general public.
The Museum Street
Finally I would like to mention one other mediation offer that goes far beyond the conventional framework of mediation offers at art museums: the Museum Street. The Museum Street is the main thoroughfare, promenade and transparent area of rest and recreation at the Zentrum. At the same time it is also its communications backbone. A whole range of traditional and electronic media for a more in-depth approach to the exhibition visits will be available to groups and individuals. However this communication zone is not an isolated system. The information that can be retrieved in the Museum Street is linked with the other portable and stationary information sources throughout the building.
The total experience also includes the spacious grounds, the landscape sculpture and the Sculpture Park, as well as catering and shop facilities. Here too the guiding principle takes priority, in other words the requirements of visitors on the one hand and the quality of art and architecture on the other define the standard for what is on offer.
Inaugural week
Tomorrow we resume our work, and by tomorrow we shall also be in the finishing straight. Preparations for the inaugural week from 20–26 June 2005 are already underway. One thing is certain: from Day 1 the Zentrum Paul Klee will be open to everyone, in keeping with our guiding principle.
In the meantime we’re delighted to be able to celebrate the last big milestone before the opening here with you today. So now simply enjoy the performance of öff öff productions und the meal afterwards.
Thank you.
(every voiced opinion is valid)
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