Photo © Didier Jordan
Magicians for life or just for one night will be enchanted by the amazing experiences on offer at Geneva’s museums and art centres on 21 May 2016. Magic is the evocative and unifying theme of this fourth annual Museum Night. 26 institutions have put their collective imaginations to work to provide visitors of all ages with over 170 different activities, including a wide selection for English speakers. The event is coordinated by the Department of Culture and Sport of the City of Geneva.
Amusing, mystical, esoteric or illusionist, magic in all its guises appears Hey Presto! on the programme. This common thread is one of the special features of Museum Night in Geneva, with many institutions proposing a highly creative approach to the theme.
There’s a profusion of magic to delight nature lovers at the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, with strange objects in botanical tomes, magical evening fragrances and the music of plants; Qigong and a guzheng or Chinese zither concert will entertain you at the Baur Foundation; monsters and disturbing figures will materialize at the Bodmer Foundation; there’ll be amazing magic tricks and shows at Les Berges de Vessy, Mamco, the International Red Cross Museum and the Natural History Museum; MEG’s objects will pulsate with magical forces, and visitors can also watch trance-related performances with voodoo drums, whirling dervishes and Moroccan mystics; supernatural figures will appear in the rooms of the International Museum of the Reformation; the Ariana Museum is celebrating the alchemy and magic of porcelain; magicians of ancient times and a pharaoh cut in half are some of the surprising speed dating themes at the Museum of Art and History; strange phenomena associated with radiant matter will be demonstrated at the History of Science Museum; the manuscript of Zaïre (The Tragedy of Zara), Voltaire’s most famous tragedy, will be on display at the Voltaire Museum; minerals will magically change colour at the Natural History Museum; while ritual objects will be examined - "Magic or Religion?" - at the University of Geneva’s collection of casts. Finally, projection mapping performances will light up MEG at nightfall.
Photo © Didier Jordan
The fringe programme is also a major feature of Museum Night: unique guided tours along the Cultural Trails led by the ART SANS RDV Association, the inauguration of the artwork Les Inséparables on the rooftops of the Rue Lissignol and a new full-scale investigation Sherlock Holmes Live are among the events on offer. To conclude this Magical Night, the Alhambar will offer Museum Night Owls a house cocktail until 2am.
Museum Night closing times have been standardised and, with rare exceptions, institutions will close their doors at the stroke of midnight. Events start at 5pm or 6pm (7.30pm at the Botanical Gardens), depending on the venue. Access to Museum Night is by means of the traditional ticket-object, which this year is a magic scarf costing 10 CHF. Transport is included in the ticket price and it has been extended and the frequency increased: four shuttles A-BRA-CA-DABRA will crisscross the city from 5pm to midnight. Many museums also offer opportunities for eating on the theme of magic.
The fun continues on 22 May, International Museum Day, which has just as many exciting events on offer. Museums will open that day at their usual times and admission is free.
More information at: www.nuitdesmusees-geneve.ch.
Download the full programme booklet and go to page 64 to see activities in English: http://www.ville-ge.ch/culture/nuitdesmusees/docs/ndm16_programme.pdf
