Ash Keating has made an international name for himself with spectacular paintings of entire buildings and huge walls. Like few others, he has perfected the use of fire extinguishers as a tool for his abstract works in public spaces, leaving room for chance and improvisation. Inspired by the light and colors of his native Australia, the energetic color of his painting with their fluid, vertical gradients reveals an almost transcendent longing. In a public, performative action in August 2023, he transforms the former caretaker’s house in the park surrounding the Museum Langmatt into a huge, three-dimensional artwork. He will complement his presentation with new paintings scattered throughout the park, placing them in dialogue with the French Impressionists from the museum’s collection in its historic interiors. This publication provides an exemplary insight into the artist’s multifaceted oeuvre and documents his exhibition at the Museum Langmatt.

Eric Hattan is known for his canny interventions in public places and causing surprise by thwarting the familiar order. This is also the case at the Museum Langmatt, which invited the Swiss artist to playfully intervene on its premises. The historic villa with its mahogany parquet flooring, fine carpets, chandeliers, and manicured garden provides a contrasting foil for Hattan's installations, composed of worn clothing, metal parts, and other less exquisite materials. Five o'clock Shadow documents the ensuing dialogue that spans from the rich contrast between the present and the Belle Epoque, and shows how the venerable building is being tangibly enlivened.