The Garden of Forking Paths is the title of an outdoor sculpture project, which the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst is staging on the Blum family estate in Samstagern near Zürich, Switzerland. The exhibition, curated by the Migros Museum's director Heike Munder, presents works of nine artists: Pablo Bronstein, Liz Craft, Ida Ekblad, Geoffrey Farmer, Kerstin Kartscher, Ragnar Kjartansson, Fabian Marti, Peter Regli and Thiago Rocha Pitta.
The sculpture project The Garden of Forking Paths is a guest on the Froh Ussicht estate, a farm owned by the Blum family in Samstagern, a small town on Lake Zürich. Since 2008, Martin Blum presents art projects on his farmland under the name Froh Ussicht. He invited the Migros Museum to use the Blum family estate during the time the museum's exhibition space at the Löwenbräu Areal in Zürich is under reconstruction.
The curator got the inspiration for the exhibition from Sacro Bosco in Bomarzo, Italy. Sacro Bosco is a Renaissance garden that was rediscovered in the 20th century. It is know for its mysterious sculptures and eccentric architecture that over time became overgrown. As a result, Heike Munder invited nine artists to create their own fantastic narratives.
Pablo Bronstein has created a pavilion that serves as the performance venue for the aria Qui del Sol gl'infausti lampi from the opera Agar et Ismaele Esiliati by Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti. Liz Craft has conceived a garden house with a stairway to heaven (Snake House), while Fabian Marti has built a psychedelic hothouse (Heroic Dose). Peter Regli has built a disproportionally large snowman made of white marble (Reality Hacking No. 270), and Thiago Rocha Pitta has erected a Monument to the Continental Drift, a sail for the landscape. Geoffrey Farmer has created an artwork in three parts, consisting of a dress for cows, a sound installation, and an exhibition with photographs in a small forest, referring to US-American poet Allen Ginsberg. Ida Ekblad who is currently participating in this year's Venice Biennale exhibition ILLUMInations, installed a gate made of steel with surrealistic ornaments. The German artist Kerstin Kartscher planted huge umbrellas - "magic mushrooms" - on the lawn of the estate. Finally, the Islandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson arranges three monuments of marble along one of the farms' paths.
The show runs until October 30, 2011. More information about the exhibition is available on the website of the museum.
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