Walk on the Water

About

Did you think you knew the MAH? You did before director Marc-Olivier Wahler invited Jakob Lena Knebl, the first curator of a series of major “carte blanche” exhibitions designed to multiply the views of the museum and the interpretations of its collection. For the occasion, the Viennese artist and performer immersed herself in the reserves, studied the rooms and the works on display. The result is a scenography that promises to provide moments of amazement and fascination. The title of the exhibition, Walk on the Water/W marche sur l’eau, is a reference to “The Miraculous Fishing “, a famous part of Konrad Witz’s altarpiece depicting Jesus walking on the waters of Lake Geneva, as well as to the rock standard by Deep Purple. Jakob Lena Knebl encourages visitors to abandon their expectations and try a new experience in the museum that is so familiar to them. The public is invited to change their perspective, to imagine themselves walking on water.
Accompanying the eponymous exhibition by Jakob Lena Knebl, this catalogue reflects the Viennese artist and curator’s humorous and deliberately provocative work: the book mixes interviews, essays and short texts on a selection of artworks, references to Deep Purple, a short story by Jorge Luis Borges inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, as well as an interview with a Geneva barefoot water ski champion. In addition to images of works and documentary snapshots, the book includes photographs of Knebl’s interventions in the galleries.
With regard to the overall graphic language of the MAH developed by Hubertus-Design, the publication invites us to discover new references and to completely rethink the exhibition catalogue as we know it as a genre. Varied, surprising and extending far beyond the duration of an exhibition, this publication takes us on a journey through the MAH’s inventories. In doing so, it arranges them in an unusual and versatile way to the soundtrack of Deep Purple. An art publication that defies common criteria and opens up new spaces of experience.

Info

Edited by Jakob Lena Knebl and Marc-Olivier Wahler
17 × 24 cm
364 pages, 166 images/illustrations
A transparent gauze, on which the title has been screen-printed, extends over the printed hardcover.
2021, English 978-2-8306-0281-4, French 978-2-8306-0280-7