"Armour and Evening Dress"

May 13 - August 30, 2009

Based on the exhibition "Dresses like Armour" in the Neue Hofburg in Vienna which presented Viennese state armour paired with evening dresses by the couturier Roberto Capucci, the Museum Tinguely will show pieces of armour mainly from the armoury in Graz, flanked by contemporary designers' dresses and ‘war props‘ by Tinguely, Spoerri and Luginbühl, the exhibition is a celebration and parody of military history (from 1315 to 1991) and haute couture that is worn as a "second skin". From the days of the prestigious profession of the armourer down to the entourage of the declared amateur locksmith Tinguely the development leads to the central issue of the "hinge": the malleability of iron.

Find more information: www.tinguely.ch

Some objects which can be seen in Basel:

Parade half-armour by Michael Witz the Younger

Fluted armour by Hans Maystetter

Half-armour from the great garniture of Kaspar Baron Völs-Schenkenberg

Field armour from Archduke Karl II. from Inner Austria

Some suits of field armour for heavy cavalry