Art in Public Places - Today’s Artwork: "Hans Weidmann - Tageszeiten"

March 24, 2026

This insight describes one of 563 public artworks in Basel. If you’d like to explore more publicly accessible artworks, browse the full dataset on data.bs. Or even better—experience them in person by booking a tour with Artstübli – Kunst und Kultur.

Photo: Hans Weidmann, Tageszeiten.

The glass artwork "Tageszeiten" by Hans Weidmann, located in the stairwell of a university chemistry institute, presents a quiet dialogue between art, architecture, and the passage of time. Created in 1962, its three panels of birds—an owl, a bird of prey, and a soaring bird—are not merely decorative but are thoughtfully integrated into the building's existing grid of antique glass. This integration speaks to a mid-century modernist ideal where art serves the architecture, enhancing rather than overwhelming the functional, sober space of an academic stairwell. The choice of birds to symbolize the times of day, with the imagery growing brighter as one ascends, transforms a simple vertical journey into a metaphorical one from night to day. The work's reduced, simple forms demand a moment of pause and observation, offering a poetic counterpoint to the rigorous scientific inquiry happening within the institute's walls. It stands as a testament to a time when public art in institutional spaces was designed to elevate the everyday experience through subtle, intelligent harmony.

Figure 1: Location of Artwork "Hans Weidmann - Tageszeiten"

Data source: Kunst im öffentlichen Raum
Additional resources: Artstübli, street-art-cities, Urban Art in Basel

🤖 This text was generated with the assistance of AI. All quantitative statements are derived directly from the dataset listed under Data Source.