Balancing Bear

History of the work

High above the ground a dark bear stands upright on a taut wire rope, its forelegs spread wide as if looking for its balance. According to the City of Bern's inventory, the figure is made of painted polyester and acrylic laminate and is fixed to the rope. Carlo E. Lischetti made it in 1986.

The figure's first location was Bubenbergplatz near the railway station. According to the German-language Wikipedia, the bear balanced there until early 2007; since 2009 it has been at the bear pit. In the same year the Bärengraben, built in 1856 and 1857, was extended with the Bärenpark, designed by the architects Matti Ragaz Hitz with the landscape architects Klötzli + Friedli.

Carlo Edoardo Lischetti was born in Brugg on 18 October 1946, the son of a Swiss mother and an Italian father. After training as a window dresser in Zurich he moved to Bern in 1966, where he lived, with short breaks, until his death. In his flat on Kramgasse he ran a „Laboratory for Applied Environmental Design“, around which, according to SIKART, an alternative scene gathered; in 1971 he opened the „Büro Lischetti“ on Nydeggstalden. That same year he stood for the city parliament on the „Härdlütli“ list and sat in it from 1973 to 1976. SIKART describes him as an action artist, performer, object artist, painter and film-maker.

He left several works in public space in Bern, such as the floor sculpture on the Münsterplattform of 1983 or the fountain in Postgasse of 1992, on which anyone can become the fountain figure. In 1996 the city honoured him with a prize; Wikipedia calls it the Bern City Art Prize, SIKART a promotion prize of the municipal art commission. Lischetti died in Bern on 30 November 2005.

If you are looking for the bear, look up: it floats above the visitors' heads between the masts.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Wikipedia (de): Carlo E. Lischetti · SIKART Lexikon: Carlo E. Lischetti · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Grosser Muristalden 4 (Bärengraben, Bärenpark) · Wikimedia Commons: Foto des Werks (Ansicht)