A Courageous, Unique and Topical Exhibition in Basel
12 October 2021
The British artist and ceramicist Paddy Hartley was commissioned by the pharmaceutical company Roche in Basel to create a double exhibition at the Tinguely Museum and the Pharmacy Museum in Basel on Roche’s 125-year jubilee.
To a certain extent, the exhibition is the continuation of the symposium and the discussion that marked the 75th anniversary of Roche in 1971. This event, ‘The Challenge of Life-Biomedical Progress and Human Values‘, addressed many of the fundamental questions raised by medical progress. For patients, society and the pharmaceutical industry, those issues ars still topical as ever.
Paddy Hartley
Paddy Hartley has been devoted to those questions and developments for a long time, and he nurtures a profound interest in the human body and how patients who are injured or sick view their bodies. He produces works on medical and scientific themes in a wide range of media and materials.
His works are full of (implicit) comparisons (and a sense of humour) whose purpose is to lead to a deeper understanding of humanity’s efforts to stay healthy and combat disease.
His insipration is drawn from his conversations over the course of 25 years with patients and medical professionals and his own experiences.
The exhibition
The exhibition, including the title, articulate the artist’s reflections and his interest in the patients and the interrelation of science, art and historical context. They coincidence with the philosophy and interests of Roche.
The patient-centred view of the artist covers three areas that concern how biomedical science influences society and the individual from birth to death.
They are: embryology and the right to create life, the causes and consequences of age-related disease and euthanasia and the right to facilitate elective end-of-life treatment.
The title The Cost of Life does not specifically refer to the financial cost of life, although it is a factor but strongly related to risk, a central theme in medicine and research.
Although a bilingual exhibition (German and English), the title ‘The Cost of Life’ could not be adequately translated into German, hence the English title.
The exhibition at the Tinguely Museum(see also the Agenda and the show at the Pharmacy museum) focuses on the beginning of life, the end of life, and the challenge of adding life to years. The beginning and the end of our lives are the moments over which people have the least control.
The artist translated these issues into three-dimensional reality by using clay and creating ceramics. He has chosen to make predominant use of white-and red-glazed porcelain paper clay, making additional use of metal, glass and fabric where appriopriate.This choice is based on the links between pharmacy and ceramics.
By adopting the faience technique from the Arab world in the sixteenth century, the European pharmacy managed to thrive for the first time. Ceramics could store oils, fats, and other pharmaceutical ingredients better than glass or iron in large quantities.
The Topics
Some artworks refer to the success of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Others focus on end-of-life medical treatments and euthanasia (The End….to be continued). They present funeral urns, some of them embellished with cannula needles. These urns cannot be held. They cannot be embraced or touched.
The idea for this piece came during the Covid-19 pandemic when hospitals and retirement homes visiting restrictions were rather strict. People were not allowed to visit their relatives. They were the new untouchables. Each urn has subtle variations in form, scale, and surface, acknowledging that we are simultaneously similar and different. Covid (and other diseases) does not distinghuish. Other urns are devoid of needles, stressing that others were still able to meet their dearest ones.
Some works (Ill Communication) are inspired by the impact of the internet and social media on science communication. The internet as a communication tool is a double-edged sword, disseminating reliable information and allowing fake news.
The artist is annoyed by society’s obsession with beauty treatments and the (ab) use of reconstructive surgery techniques. The surgeons involved in the development and application of facial and cosmetic surgery for American and British servicemen injured in World War I commercialised their skills soon afterwards, creating the beauty surgery industry. The works’ Looking Class’ is a mirror for the users and industry of this type of surgery.
The artist has always been fascinated by Greek mythology. The Hydras symbolise the self-harming human beings who refuse to be vaccinated. The part of this piece is called HypoTrypanoPharmAlethephobia, a synthesis of the names of four phobias: hypochondrias (fear of illness), trypanophobia (fear of needles and injections), pharmacophobia (fear of taking medication) and alethephobia (fear of truth). The tongues of the snakes are represented by a needle, implying that the needle was not designed to harm.
The infinity Balance encourages reflection on the far-reaching consequences of pharmaceuticals and how they are prescribed, particularly given the rise of the proportion of older people in society.
The Retrospective
The Retrospective focuses on spiritual, emotional, ethical and societal aspects:
some works are called Splint (the power of prayer for some individuals),
Rosary (a commentary on the nature of addiction and dependence on pharmaceuticals and religious belief),
Crown of Thorns (The shifting attitudes expressed by religious groups regarding biomedical search and the application of medical technologies),
Online (inspired by the realisation of how easy self-diagnose and self-prescribe are), Pain Killer explores the duality of fear of medical devices and medical interventions),
the Aligera Series (a creative digression of slices of lamb’s-heart tissues, Consequence (fire protection clothing aboard warships during World War I),
Make my move for me, will you, my love (A culmination of 15 years’ research and making works about British servicemen who sustained facial injuries in World War I and underwent facial reconstructive surgery. It is one of the primary sources of inspiration for Paddy Hartley. He researched and traced a group of more than 5000 British servicemen).
Golgotha (souvenir) was made in response to developments in cloning and the ethical debates around this technology.
Papaver Rhoeas (Poppy) is crafted artwork that addresses contemporary notions of remembrance and the phenomena of memorialisation, drawing on Poppy’s synonymity with the commemoration of World War I.
Conclusion
The exhibition at the Tinguely Museum is not just courageous, topical, unique and reflective. It also shows the commitment of the artist and Roche to tackle issues concerning the relationship between patients, society, healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry by using art as a medium.
Source: Jonathan Steffen, The Cost of Life. Paddy Hartley, Basel 2021; www.tinguely.ch).