Dig Drill Dump Fill Push Pull Empty Full

Around the year 1968, a shift occurs in the pre­sen­ta­tion of the pro­tag­o­nists of children’s books and songs: child char­ac­ters become agents of soci­etal change. This shift does not only impact sub­ject matter, but also goes hand in hand with formal exper­i­men­ta­tion. Sto­ries and songs alike cel­e­brate anti-author­i­tar­ian sen­ti­ments, the desire to trans­gress bor­ders, and the poten­tial of lived fem­i­nism, embrace tech­no­log­i­cal pes­simism, indulge in a dark and mys­ti­cal fan­tasy-imag­i­na­tion, and exult in the intox­i­cat­ing fas­ci­na­tion with sur­re­al­ism. The exhi­bi­tion presents pieces from the book col­lec­tion of Carmen Tobler, Cédric Eisen­ring, and Luca Beeler and a selec­tion from Raf­fael Dörig’s music col­lec­tion along­side videos about the topic of child­hood by var­i­ous artists in a sceno­graphic pre­sen­ta­tion specif­i­cally designed for the exhibition.