Spike is pleased to invite you to

"Masern, Röteln, Mumps"

The Beeler Eisenring Tobler Children's Book Collection

24 – 27 May 2017

In the 1970s art found its pedagogical purpose in the format of the children's book. Artists affiliated with the counterculture of the time followed in the footsteps of earlier, related projects by artists such as El Lissitzky, Käte Steinitz, Kurt Schwitters and Theo van Doesburg. Against the background of the demographic explosion of the Baby Boomer generation, artists, writers, illustrators and designers rediscovered children as the radical bearers of an alternative future. Some of the alluring narratives promote an activist agenda in an easily comprehensible way, some are concerned to give the child agency, while others create a space for a lighthearted antiauthoritarianism. In any case, there is much to learn from these books.

Extra copies removed from overfilled libraries, children’s books that were once but then no longer cherished by collectors and enthusiasts, or picture books from children’s rooms that gave way to the renovation plans of empty nesters – all of these bear the traces of countless children’s hands. Stains soaked up by the fibers of the paper or excited scribblings on lavishly printed pictures attest to the past encounters of these subversive stories with a generation that has since grown up.

Opening & readings, Tuesday, 23 May, 7pm

Opening hours, Wed – Sat, noon – 6pm

"Masern Röteln Mumps" is part of a series of exhibitions presenting the collection, including "Ratz Fatz Zauber Was" with Kunsthalle Zürich at LISTE Art Fair Basel in 2016.

With thanks to Luca Beeler, Cédric Eisenring and Carmen Tobler.

Supported by Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung