Swiss Art Awards 2021 opens in the hall 3 of the Messe in Basel.

The Swiss Art Awards exhibition, which is organised by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, offers an insight into current art and architecture in Switzerland and is a valuable reference for art professionals and art lovers.

The National Council Chamber of the Curia Confœderationis Helveticæ, the Swiss Parliament Building in Bern, is here recreated in a 1:25 scale-model. Yet in contrast with the existing assembly, this miniature replaces the parliamentarians altogether, giving instead power to the plant kingdom. Drawing from the writings of Latour in his “We Have Never Been Modern” essay, the installation aims at giving political rights to “nonhumans, to quasi-objects, to hybrids”, speculatively considering their potential to adjudicate a current era of uncertainty and climate change.

→ Parliament of Plants