Museum Center Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel: Homage to Václav Havel
The Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel opens an art installation in honor of Václav Havel on Saturday. Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a close friend of the Czech playwright and politician.
20.11.2025, 14:09
SDA
In addition, works created on site by students from Berlin and Neuchâtel will be exhibited.
The two projects mark the end of the celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the Center Dürrenmatt (CDN). "The concept of transmission is at the heart of the new exhibition," said Madeleine Betschart, the outgoing director at the end of the year, on Thursday. The starting point was the question: "How can Friedrich Dürrenmatt inspire the next generation?"
The future director of the CDN Gabriel Grossert, curator of the new exhibition, explained that the work of around 30 young people had produced "a very wide variety of proposals" such as paintings, drawings, sculptures, videos and performances. Three themes had emerged: Dürrenmatt as a role model, mythological figures such as the Minotaur, who was close to the artist's heart, and catastrophe.
The project was the result of a collaboration between the CDN and the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), on the initiative of Valérie Favre, painter and professor at the UdK. 22 students from the UdK and seven from the Académie de Meuron in Neuchâtel completed a two-week residency, during which they were able to take part in painting courses, visits and lectures, among other things.
The exhibition "Friedrich Dürrenmatt - Collectif" runs until March 15.
Linden tree of peace
In addition to the exhibition opening, the CDN will inaugurate a "Havel's Place", a tree of peace, on Saturday to mark the 35th anniversary of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's historic speech "For Václav Havel" at the Gottlieb Duttweilers Prize ceremony. At the time, the author compared Switzerland to a prison in which the inhabitants are both prisoners and guards.
"The peace lime tree, around which there is a table and two chairs, is just a few steps away from the desk where Dürrenmatt wrote his famous speech," said Madeleine Betschart. The site will also be accessible to museum visitors in future.
The art project "Havel's Place" invites dialog and reflection and will be the 60th place of its kind in the world. It is dedicated to Václav Havel, a playwright, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic.
The CDN has requested a "Havel's Place" in honor of the friendship between Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Václav Havel. The Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Switzerland will be present at the event.
