Digital cultural mediation at the centre of the new partnership between the Fondation Beyeler and BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation

February 8, 2019

In 2018, the Fondation Beyeler and BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation forged a new partnership to co-create multimedia centres during the museum’s major exhibitions. After working towards restoring major works, both partners wanted to service cultural mediation using new technologies.

A long-standing partnership

From 2011 to 2017, the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation supported the restoration of major works from the Fondation Beyeler’s collection. Through extensive research and documentation, the programme run by the Restoration Department of the Fondation Beyeler has restored six works: Ferdinand Léger’s Le passage à niveau (1912), Max Ernst’s The King Playing with the Queen (1944),  Henri Rousseau’s Le lion, ayant faim, se jette sur l’antilope (1898-1905), Pablo Picasso’s Femme (1907), Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (1916-1919), Andy Warhol’s Joseph Beuys (1980).

Digital mediation: new technologies providing unprecedented access to art

The use of digital mediation tools is an innovative way to promote the coming together of institutions, visitors and works presented through new technologies. By allowing greater interaction with the public, this new method of mediation aims to facilitate access to the world of art and enrich the visitor experience. The Fondation Beyeler’s multimedia centres combine the curator’s exhibition concept, as well as anecdotes from the artist’s life, with new and surprising technologies unknown to the majority of visitors. More information on current exhibitions and the Fondation Beyeler is available on their website.