KONNEX KAIRO

Jean CROTTI, Maurice K. GRÜNIG, Eva HAAS, Stefan HAENNI, Christian HELMLE, Pierre KELLER, Jean-Luc MANZ, Claude SANDOZ, Not VITAL The exhibition KONNEX KAIRO (Konnex = Latin for connection, link, personal contact) at the Kunstmuseum Thun offers a glimpse into the artistic work of nine Swiss artists, all of whom either lived as scholarship recipients of the City Commission in the studio house in Shabramant near Cairo or were hosted as personal guests of the Swiss Embassy in Cairo. The photographers Maurice K. Grünig, Christian Helmle, and Pierre Keller, as well as the painters Jean Crotti, Eva Haas, Stefan Haenni, Jean-Luc Manz, Claude Sandoz, and Not Vital reference Egypt and Cairo in larger groups of works, allowing exhibition visitors to witness the connections, links, and personal contacts that led from their KONNEX KAIRO to artistic solutions. These solutions explore cultural differences and commonalities between the Orient and the Occident and find a common ground in the Swiss artists’ perspective on Egypt. The KONNEX KAIRO exhibition project was initiated by Thun-based artist Stefan Haenni and organized in collaboration with Wilfried von Gunten, acting museum director. The aim was to ensure that the idea of the multitude of sensory impressions experienced during a stroll through Cairo—as reflected in the diverse artistic responses to the question of individual experience—would remain evident in the conception of both the exhibition and the catalog.