Comédie Humaine – An encounter between art and architecture

A film by Sandra Gysi and Ahmed Abdel Mohsen
© 2015, documentary 51′

In Aarau a mammoth tree is cut down: the space is needed for an extension of the Stadtmuseum. The film “Comédie Humaine” stays close to the mammoth tree and the people around it.

with:
Roger Diener, Architect Diener & Diener, Basel
Josef Felix Müller, Artist St.Gallen
Kaba Rössler, Director Stadtmuseum Aarau
Martin Steinmann, Architect & Architect-theorist, Aarau

In Aarau a mammoth tree is cut down: the space is needed for an extension of the Stadtmuseum. The tree is 130 years old and about 30 meters high. But it did not totally disappear from the city; the wood was cut into boards and used to design the facade. The realisation demands a lot of steps, technical as well as artistic. While the architects spur the work on the tree, the artist cuts images of people into boards with a motor saw. That is the beginning of an exciting transformation. The film “Comédie Humaine” stays close to the mammoth tree and the people around it.