Bern, Switzerland - By way of overture to the series of exhibitions scheduled for 2008, the Zentrum Paul Klee is presenting Genesis – The art of creation, an exhibition that explores the parallels between the production of a work of art and scientific research. The exhibition adopts Klee’s notion of Genesis as a starting point, indulges in some boundary crossing and explores – through works by artists of international renown and scientific objects – the methodological and aesthetic kinships between art’s avant-gardists and the life sciences.

In keeping with the ethos of the Zentrum Paul Klee, accompanying the exhibition is an all-embracing, interdisciplinary programme of interpretation. The exhibition has been curated in association with the Centraal Museum, Utrecht. On exhibition through 27 April. 2008.

Anyone looking closely at the methodologies and outcomes of research in the life sciences cannot fail to be astonished at the inventiveness and creative potential of those disciplines; they have, in recent decades, changed forever the way we see ourselves. Genetic engineering today finds itself centre stage whenever the moral issues of human responsibility and man’s biological imprint are debated. As for art, it is no longer seen as a refuge for irrationality or as providing a counterbalance to the supposed reason of science. Both sides, art and science, are characterized by a particular mindset – and both must emerge from the security of their pasts and broaden their scopes if they are to break new ground.

The exhibition allows the visitor to explore the evolution of genetic research and the ways in which artists have striven to come to terms with modern genetics. The exhibits – paintings, drawings and sculptures as well as interactive installations and films by artists of international renown such as Mona Hatoum, Ross Bleckner, Mark Francis, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Dieter Roth, Eduardo Kac and Mark Dion, to name but a few – all show parallels in their methodologies.

Genesis – The art of creation has transferred from the Centraal Museum, Utrecht to the Zentrum Paul Klee, where it has been adapted and expanded.

Everything on offer can be found in a leaflet or by visiting www.zpk.org/genesis  

Visit Zentrum Paul Klee - Monument im Fruchtland 3 - CH - 3006 Bern - Telefon 031 359 01 01 - Website : www.zpk.org