Berne art museum shows “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”

Artist Michel Blazy from Paris is among more than a dozen Swiss and international artists who are contributing their works and performances to an exhibition called "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden."

Artist Michel Blazy from Paris is among more than a dozen Swiss and international artists who are contributing their works and performances to an exhibition called “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.”

The exhibition, which runs at Berne’s Kunsthalle art museum until August 22, features paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations by various artists on the theme of nature.

Even though the city’s Botanical Gardens provided some alpine plants for the exhibition, not all the flowers and shrubs are real: One exotic-looking plant is made of material from German police uniforms.

“Behind the title there are a lot of promises, including some we cannot keep,” said the Kunsthalle director Bernhard Fibicher.

“We don’t promise a rose garden but we can offer an interesting show about the relationship between art and nature. It’s not really a didactic exhibition…it’s very playful and can be funny, even if some of the questions raised are fundamental to the planet’s survival,” Fibicher said.

The exhibition includes a large revolving door installation containing a pot of roses, entitled “Relax.” Next to it is a recreation of an alpine garden with both real and imaginary plants. And in the museum garden, American Mike Tyler has sculpted “impact craters” out of the lawn.