Spectacular art event and procession in Langenbruck BL
Published: Saturday, Apr 27th 2024, 18:40
Updated At: Sunday, Apr 28th 2024, 01:59
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The well-known Swiss artist duo Steiner & Lenzinger invited people to a spectacular procession from Langenbruck BL to Schöntal Monastery on Saturday afternoon. In the presence of several hundred participants, a poly-altar for everyone and everything was inaugurated in the monastery, which was plundered 500 years ago and can be visited until November.
Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzinger are known for their whimsical installations, with which they take up and question topics of everyday life, but also world events, in a subtly ironic way. Their current action and installation entitled "Der Eilige Geist kommt zur Ruhe" is about religion and worldview and nothing less than the reactivation of Schöntal Monastery - albeit in an idiosyncratic way.
The monastery in the hilly landscape of the Basel Jura was plundered in 1525 and abandoned by the church. What remains is the Romanesque church building and the outbuildings used as a farm and art gallery.
The monastery and the surrounding landscape have been used for years as an art space and landscape, especially for sculptures. Steiner/Lenzinger have now gone one step further. "We want to reverse the plundering of the monastery 499 years ago," said Jörg Lenzinger at the start of the procession in Langenbruck. The whole thing is under the umbrella concept of dough becoming bread and food.
Altar for freedom of thought and religion
The main artistic altar in the monastery church is also a bread altar with countless shapes and formats of bread loaves and figures. Two ovens are integrated, from which new loaves "and visions" can be baked, as Lenzinger said. In addition to the bread altar, there are numerous other altars that celebrate freedom of thought and religion in a witty and humorous way.
The procession in and of itself, like the altar area, was a living plea for diversity. The procession was led by a group of traditional, local village musicians. The route led past performance stations, some of which were explicitly contemporary. And at the monastery, the colorful and quirky art pilgrims were greeted by a yodel choir.
The installation by Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzinger at Schöntal Monastery can be seen until November 3.
©Keystone/SDA
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