Diplomacy is mostly an intangible thing, so when Andreas Spillman—the new Director of the Landes- museum, Zurich— told his team he wanted to mount an exhibition about Swiss diplomacy, they were presented with a daunting task, "because diplomacy is not something you can actually see" says Pascale Meyer, the show's curator "and also because there are so few objects and so few pictures documenting it." They started with an historical overview. According to Meyer: " We chose different stages in history which were important diplomatic steps Switzerland took. And then we thought about creating an atmosphere which would bring it to the public."
This atmosphere is a startling assemblage of enigmatic objects (costumes, uniforms, gifted objects, paintings, photographs) and installations. One centerpiece of the exhibit is a banquet table elaborately set for twenty or so diplomatic guests, whose (disembodied) hands in dinner-time motion are projected by video over their places. The effect is a spectral one and Meyer reminds us that "There is an official side and an unofficial side to diplomacy: people sitting around a table having dinner together has also to do with diplomacy. It was more a question of atmosphere, than creating an exact historical display."
©Schweizerisches Landesmuseum. Foto: Donat Stuppan.
©Swiss National Museum
©Basle Poster Collection
The objects in the exhibit take on the aura of religious relics, they vary from gifts of golden goblets from 17th century negotiations to diaries of a Hapsburg Empress protected by the Swiss Federation from the wrong hands; a pair of red sneakers worn by the Swiss President, Micheline Calmy-Rey (as Foreign Minister) as the first foreign official to cross the demarcation line between North and South Korea in 2003 — "It's not the object itself; you have to interpret it. The sneakers don't tell you anything—only if you understand why she wore them, you can imagine what they have to do with diplomacy." Indeed there are many such objects open to interpretation in this exhibit—but by and large, isn't this true of diplomacy?
©Swiss National Museum
"On A Delicate Mission: Tales of Swiss Diplomacy"
May 16 - September 16, 2007
Landesmuseum, Zurich
For more information visit:
http://www.in-heikler-mission.ch
