MBAL Spring

This spring, the MBAL unveils the backstage of its collection and offers a sensitive and plural tribute to the landscapes of the Neuchâtel region through the lively hymns of contemporary artists Augusta Lardy Micheli and Jonathan Llense and the creations of students from the Cercle scolaire du Locle.

Attention, collection

Drawing attention to the collection, ensuring its preservation and linking it to the contemporary world: this is MBAL's mission, its pride and its challenge. Built up in 1862 by enthusiasts long before the museum was founded, it brings together some 5,000 works by Swiss and international artists from the 17th century to the present day.

The museum team takes a behind-the-scenes look at the collection and its complex management, through a wide selection of objects, presented according to keywords inspired by an imaginary archiving program, with all its limits and mysteries.

Three contemporary artists - Plonk et Replonk-Bébert, Ufuoma Essi and Virginie Delannoy - help create surprising encounters between the works and reflect on the stories that are written in a museum setting.

Augusta Lardy Micheli - Metaxu, The shores where my dreams live

Augusta Lardy Micheli invites us to contemplate a universe that is both interior and exterior, through the notion of Metaxu (from the Greek for "in between"). For the artist: "Metaxu is the painting that links soul and body, landscapes seen and landscapes known. The shores where my dreams live; these are the shores of Lake Neuchâtel that have filled my imagination since childhood. What are these creatures, trees and glaciers that are no more? What is this too-hot summer night that wakes me up? This feeling of anguish is inexhaustible, and nothing will prevent its vivid expression through the Metaxu, which is the act of painting."

Jonathan Llense - Through

A photographer with a sculptor's eye, Jonathan Llense creates playful, unexpected images from found objects, transformed into precarious compositions that take on their full meaning in the instantaneous. Rather than a simple representation of reality, he creates serious jokes where photography and sculpture merge.

With Par le biais, Llense draws on his archives and, commissioned by the museum, composes an original portrait of the town of Le Locle, combining photographs, local stories and busts from the collection. Water becomes a common thread, structuring a journey of 28 "fountains". Between purity and confusion, he invites us to take a fresh look, oscillating between humor and absurdity, in keeping with a free and irreverent spirit.

Curated by Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo.

Cercle Scolaire du Locle - living well together

The Commune of Le Locle places quality of life at the heart of its concerns. As part of a collaborative project involving a number of local institutions, students at the Cercle Scolaire have been reflecting on "living well together" - an essential value for learning, growing and interacting in harmony. Working in classes with their teachers, the children identified key principles - respect, politeness, fair play, etc. - and illustrated them in paintings, posters, crafts and sound pieces.

For the first time, the creations of pupils in grades 9 to 11 will be exhibited at the MBAL in the Salle Marie-Anne Calame and the adjacent space as genuine works of art, while entering into dialogue with a selection of works from the museum's collection.

This project is run by the CSLL's Service Promotion Santé Jeunesse and Service Socio-Éducatif, with the support of the school management.

Curators: Federica Chiocchetti and Anna Bleuler