_aSammlung

19 november 2022 until 11 august 2024
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A participatory project with people from the mountain village of Mitholz about Heimat, memory, risk, and responsibility. 

To many people, the meaning of Heimat only becomes clear when they lose it. Since 25 February 2020, the residents of the village of Mitholz in the Bernese Oberland have run the gamut of emotions from helplessness to optimism: that was the date when they were told they would have to leave their village in 2030 for ten years to make way for a clean-up operation in the munitions depot. After World War II there was a catastrophic explosion in the depot that destroyed most of the houses in the village and claimed the lives of nine people. 

The people of Mitholz and the Swiss Alpine Museum have come together to explore the meaning of Heimat and to address the uncertain times that lie ahead. It is a story that can be traced from the night of the explosion in 1947 right through to the future. The exhibition achieves this in various ways: providing visitors with information, engaging their senses, and immersing them in installations. It leads people to the Mitholz Archive, which appeals to all the senses, and takes them into a walk-in music installation, the “Farewell Choir”. In addition to presenting individual perspectives, the exhibition deals with the measurable and controllable technical processes planned for the clear-up operation. The “evaluation of variants” for dealing with the munitions has been reworked and illustrated so that it can be explored interactively: Clear away the munitions, cover them up, create a flood, or trigger an explosion? Some very big questions come into focus in Mitholz: How do memories affect who we are? As individuals, as a society? What risks do we want to take? What does Heimat mean? Visitors to the exhibition will be asked these questions directly, and one thing becomes abundantly clear: 

Mitholz concerns us all. 

You can find some more detailed insights into the exhibition below, as well as the themes it raises and how things have developed over the years:

Impressions | Chronology | Contributors | Making of | Cultural round table podcast

It can take around two hours to go around the entire exhibition. Visitors with less time can select specific aspects of the contents. The main texts are translated into French and English. Translations into Italian and Ukrainian are available at reception.

^{Original rootstock from a project participant’s garden.}

^{Stylized mine shaft showing various illustrated options for the clean-up operation.}

^{Photos: David Schweizer / Illustrations: Luigi Olivadoti / Scenography: Karin Bucher}