My favourite: Adrian Mears, Art In Motion

The Kunstmuseum Basel’s collections comprise ca. 4,000 paintings, sculptures, videos, and works of installation art, as well as the ca. 300,000 drawings and prints from seven centuries held by the Kupferstichkabinett. And around 200 people work at the Kunstmuseum Basel in a wide variety of professions - full-time, part-time, on an hourly basis. Some of them present their favourite works here.

1. What is your name and what is your role at the Kunstmuseum Basel?
Catherine Rukkers, trainee program department / education & mediation

2. Job description
At the interface of art, cultural history, social discourses, urban culture and entertainment, the programme / education and mediation department curates programmes, mediation formats and events. As an intern, I mainly work on scientific and organizational aspects of exhibition and theme-specific programs.

3. What's your favorite work?
Art In Motion (2019), a composition by Adrian Mears for 16 wind instruments

4. Why?
What I find particularly appealing about this work is the overall concept. "Art In Motion" was commissioned by the Kunstmuseum on the occasion of PROZESSION1000PLUS, an event that dealt with future scenarios in a purely musical way. For once, the focus in the Kunstmuseum was not on paintings and sculptures, but on sounds and the many people who took part in the procession from the Basler Münster to the Kunstmuseum Neubau. In the composition "Art in Motion" this is dramatically reflected in a movement from the old to the new. Adrian Mears composed his piece based on Oliver Messiaen (1908 - 1992) and his influence on jazz. The work is characterised by three phases: The first ones were rather dark and restrained, the third and concluding ones were hopeful and even jubilant. The procession also followed three phases: The musicians* first played at the Basler Münster, then crossed the Rittergasse and finally reached the Kunstmuseum. The musical climax took place in the staircase of the new building, which enlivened the museum as a place of gathering. The incorporation of interior and exterior space and the resulting interweaving of urban space with a museum context is what I particularly like about this work.

This is an excerpt from the play. The complete piece can be purchased at www.adrianmears.com.

Recorded at Jazzcampus Basel, 06.12.2019.
Andreas Hoerni (Engineer), Adrian Mears (Conductor/Composer), Ruben Maxim (alto sax 2) Charlotte Lang (alto sax 1), Baptiste Pfaff (tenor sax 1), Raphael Skoda (tenor sax), Francisco Macedo (baritone sax), Gergö Szax (trumpet 1), Noah Eiermann (trumpet 2), Oskar Szutenberg (trumpet 3), Micha Friedli (trumpet 4), Lou Lecaudy (tenor trombone 1), Yossi Itskovich (tenor trombone 2), Maurus Twerenbold (tenor Trombone), Lukas Reinert (bass trombone 1), Lukas Wirz (bass trombone 2), Victor Hege (tuba).
Musicians who performed but were not in studio: Niels Pasquier (alto sax), Sebastian Till (tenor sax), Laszlo Villanyi (tenor trombone).