1. Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Le Monde des Atlas, 1975–78, gouache sur papier, 71 × 200 cm, collection Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel © CDN/Confédération suisse
When Le jeu - Das Spiel - Il gioco
Until the end of the month of February, the Center Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel (CDN) present an exhibition dedicated to games and playfulness in the oeuvre of Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and a selections of modern and contemporary artists such as Valérie Favre, Jacques Chessex, Guy Debord, Hannes Binder and Benjamin Gottwald.
The chapters of the exhibition
The story produced by the two curators, Madeleine Betschart (director of the institution) and Gabriel Grossert (curator at the Center Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel), start off by a fascination for the game of chess by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Due to this game, he started to added logic and chance in his novel, transforming the reader from a passive reader to an active personage in the construction of the story.
By transporting the viewer, Dürrenmatt want to respond to questions of powers and influences such as: who dictates the rules of this great game of humanity? And what is our field of action as individuals?
2. Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Illustration I/IX pour la ballade Minotaure, 1984, encre de Chine sur papier, 30 × 40 cm, collection Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel © Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich
The concept is then enlarged by a selection of modern and contemporary artists, who play with the fictional characters find in the games or the architecture of the boardgames.
The story of his addictions to games and more particularly to chess is a key element to the creation of his detective novels. In his first novel, Dürrenmatt make an important point to the use of character who explicitly criticizes the logical construction of detective novels and that the reality is unpredictable.
Following this strategy, more or less every novel of the author will have an unexpected twist or element in his story. In a sense, "The Dürrenmattian universe" is punctuated by this duality: even if the characters try to play by the rules, they will always be exposed to chance which brings about the unpredictable.
Like every game, there is a few rules to follow. In this case, Friedrich Dürrenmatt thought about the chess as a metaphor of the game for the world, especially in writings and speeches with which he takes a position to address the major questions of his time on justice and law. But also questions such as who dictates the rules of our existence? Are we mere pawns or if not, what is our own power of action?
Some of those questions will be responded in his fiction novel titled "The Chess Players" and in his speech in homage to Einstein. In his hommage, the author decided to use the interface of the game of chess by declining the relationships between the players and the chessboard. He will later explain it: "It is perhaps easier to convince the human being by play than by direct philosophy, because he has kept his child's soul than you might think.".
Beside the literature references, Friedrich Dürrenmatt and other artist played with the design of the chessboard and more or less game. From the reinterpretation of well-know figures and myths such as the Minotaur to the design of the board in itself, with its alternation of black and white squares.
The metaphor of the game is also found in the pictorial work of Friedrich Dürrenmatt, for example in a detail of the drawing for "The World as Theater" where we see a king next to a table with a chessboard motif. The knife planted in its center says a lot about the rules of had been adopted by royalty.
In the case of the minotaur, Dürrenmatt is linked to two artists; Jacques Chessex and Valérie Favre. The three of them were intrigued by self-representations, reality and self-hybiridations. For example, Friedrich Dürrenmatt sometimes represents himself in the guise of a mythological figure or an animal to play with his identity.
During his adaptation, Dürrenmatt updates the mythology by adopting the point of view of the man with the head of a bull. This will be presented in the series of drawings titled "The Ballad of the Minotaur", where he brings together a prose poem and a series of nine drawings.
The drawings of Jacques Chessex and Valérie Favre also take up a chimera or a mythological figure and here offer a cross-section of the game of self-representations which is always a reflection on one's own identity.
The artists presented in the exhibition
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Writer, painter and draftsman, whose fame came from writings novel during the first and second half of the 20th century. After his childhood near Bern, he moved to Neuchâtel in 1952. 15 years later, he will start to express his concerns for political and social challenges. From now on, his work is kept at the Center Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel and the Swiss Literary Archives, both attached to the Swiss National Library.
Valérie Favre
Valérie Favre is one of the most important contemporary artists of our time. Beside working and living between Paris and Berlin, she decided to move back to Neuchâtel in 2021. The artist is acclaimed for her teaching at the University of der Künste in Berlin and her artworks, most of them in national or international collections such as the Museum of Modern Art and contemporary of Strasbourg, the Museum of art and history Neuchâtel, the Sprengel Museum Hannover, the Kunsthaus Aarau and the Kunstmuseum of Appenzell.
Jacques Chessex
Chessex his an interdisciplinary artist, working as a writer, poet and painter. For the moment, his the only recipient of the Goncourt prize, which he received in 1973 for his novel L'Ogre. He also publishes essays on writers as well as numerous writings on art.
Guy Debord
Writer, theoretician, filmmaker, poet, Guy Debord developed a critique of society in the words of Marx: “philosophy must be realized.” His essay La société du spectacle (1967) had a strong impact in the context of May 68. In the 1950s, he designed a board game, the War Game, which was accompanied by a book.
Hannes Binder
After studying at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich, Binder worked as a freelance illustrator for publishers, newspapers and magazines. Binder headed the illustration section at the private art school Punkt-G in Zurich from 1999 to 2005 and then taught the history of illustration at the University of Art in Lucerne.
Benjamin Gottwald
Benjamin Gottwald studied illustration in Hamburg. He draws comics, picture books, while building wooden characters. In 2018, he adapted Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Die Physiker into a comic strip for the Büchergilde Gutenberg.
The publication(s)
To accompany the exhibition, the two curators of the exhibition have published a "Cahier du CDN" titled "Friedrich Dürrenmatt – The World of Atlases" for a price of 14 CHF.
The book included a gigantic picture of the artwork "Le Monde des Atlas" by Friedrich Dürrenmat and essays of Madeleine Betschart, “The World of Atlases” and Gabriel Grossert, “The story of Atlas”, “The updating of Atlas”, “Collapse and renewal”.
Beside this new publication, the final volumes of the titled "Pathways and Detours with Friedrich Dürrenmatt – Pictorial and Literary Works in Dialogue" is finally out. The first two volumes, which were retrospectively published in 2021 and 2022 present a dialogue between the texts of the author and his artworks.
The publications are published by Steidl and Diogenes, under the direction of Madeleine Betschart, Pierre Bühler and Julia Röthinger.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel
Date: 8.10.2022 – 26.2.2023
Curator: Gabriel Grossert and Madeleine Betschart.
Ticket: Available at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel
Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel
Pertuis-du-Sault 74
CH-2000 Neuchâtel
Phone: +41 58 466 70 60
Mail: cdn@nb.admin.ch