Last week two Basel museums, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Architecture Museum, had brick walls placed in front of their entrances, artnetnews has reported. Apparently the action was initiated by local collective Atopie, in a bid to draw attention to their desire for ‘more space for society, culture and alternative lifestyles’. There was some debate over whether the action was a protest or an artwork but the walls were quickly removed nevertheless without causing too much disruption to or acrimony from the institutions affected.
Happening so close to this year’s upcoming Art Basel fair, ArtReview was reminded of the protest that occurred at Art Basel two years ago over another art and architecture issue – artist Tadashi Kawamata and architect Christophe Scheidegger’s controversial ‘favela cafe’, which was occupied by another artist-activist group. On that occasion the response was less amicable – with the Swiss police wading in with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Watch what happened at the ‘favela cafe’ protest here
27 May 2015
