Basel

On my French literature class’s field trip to Basel, although with a lot of transit time for one day, we toured the old city, cathedral, and Jean Tinguely Museum. It was a wonderfully sunny and warm day, and we all had fun trying to explain to each other how we felt and what we were thinking in French, because we were required to speak en français toute la journée. In our exploration and observation of Basel, we chuckled about our ineptitude and how despite the fact that our teacher sometimes had a hard time understanding what we were talking about; we could easily communicate among ourselves with our “Franglais.”
The museum, which I can confidently say is one of my favorites from this time in Europe because Tinguely’s pieces were so unique and clever, was made up of two exhibits. Tinguely was a machine artist and quite creative with old pieces of metal and other things. Hannah Höch’s Dada compositions filled the top floor of the museum. She put together collages with interesting characters, and was known for being an effective surrealist and Dada artist (which includes those who created pieces of art post-WWI, and rejected the conventional forms of art, choosing to emphasize the bizarre and absurd).
Tinguely’s level also had several art-making machines on display. There was a room filled with destroyed plates, chairs, cups, and various household items and two destroying machines. Museum visitors could choose an item to destroy under a mallet or a claw, and then leave it to add to the interactive yet provoking room deemed “art.” Another was a simple lever screwed to the wall with paintbrushes on the end, and every 15 minutes, the brushes dipped down into a bowl of paint, and slapped up on the wall, painting an interesting and modern splotch there.
All in all, a fun trip, another good group of kids, and an opportunity to see another Swiss city!