Silvan Wegmann, known as SWEN, (born in 1969 in Solothurn, has lived in Baden since 1978) is regarded as one of Switzerland’s leading cartoonists. After training as a federal customs technician, he attended the preparatory course in 1991 and the specialist class in fine arts at the F+ F Hochschule für Kunst und Design, Zürich, from 1995 to 1998. Since 1996, he has worked regularly for various newspapers and magazines, such as Schweiz am Wochenende, Handelszeitung and Luzerner Zeitung. Silvan Wegmann has also been working for the Aargauer Zeitung and the Badener Tagblatt for some time and is therefore very familiar with the Langmatt. In 2019, he stirred up a storm with a much-discussed cartoon on the Langmatt’s structural crisis: exhibited here as the finale to his Langmatt cartoons.
Silvan Wegmann was invited to draw regular cartoons depicting the structural changes taking place during the renovation of the Langmatt. The focus was less on factual documentation and more on offering a pointed, humorous perspective. As an independent, critical ‘spirit’, Silvan Wegmann was encouraged to take every liberty to occasionally ‘rub Langmatt up the wrong way’.
During the approximately two-year construction period, 21 cartoons were produced, recounting unbelievable incidents, pressing concerns and spectacular surprises. They are peppered with references to the history of Langmatt, to the works in the collection, and also to current, hotly debated social issues. Furthermore – unsurprisingly – their content has a double meaning, or at least one.
A catalogue accompanying the exhibition, containing background information on all the cartoons, is available from the museum shop.