On the occasion of the 12th Festival of La Muga Caula, performance festival in Les Escaules, Spain, in September 2016, the artist Joan Casellas traveled to Wiesbaden in May of the same year to record a motif for the festival poster. Here he met with Ben Patterson to implement this project, and the photo performance The Kaiser Plays Violin was created.

The Museu de l’Empordá, Figueres, Catalonia, is now showing the exhibition Ben Patterson a l’Empordà. Fotos i vídeos de Joan Casellas on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Ben Patterson's death. Not only are the objects that Ben Patterson used to carry out the photo action presented, as well as all other photos that were taken during the performance, but also a free version of Ben’s bar.

We are pleased that an edition of the photography of the performance has been given to the Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden and is on view in the permanent installation Ben’s Bar: Why People Attend Bars, To Be Seen, To Be Heard, To Be There at the Kunstverein!

Experience the exhibition in the Museu de l’Empordá online:

/ 3D tour through the exhibition here
/ Personal insight into the show with Joan Casellas here

Ben Patterson, The Kaiser Plays Violin, photos: Joan Casellas

Ben Patterson / 5th Memorial Day