Reading Traces – Writing the Future

Description

The series of three workshops dedicated to the history and future of Laufenburg How do borders, migrations, and forgotten relics shape our present? Alongside the exhibition "Mo Diener – Hologram," the Rehmann Museum invites you to a series of three workshops that combine scientific research and artistic fiction. In September 2026, we will transform Laufenburg into a living archive: During two historical walks through the city – guided by the cantonal archaeological service and independent curator Vera Ryser – we will refine our view of what is hidden, on historical ruptures and discreet traces in the urban space. During the subsequent writing workshop, led by author and professor Ann Mbuti, these impressions will serve as raw material for creating your own speculative stories. A playful bridge between reality and fiction, inviting a rethinking of the city’s history. Searching for archaeological traces in Laufenburg with Benjamin Höpfer and Reto Bucher (Canton Archaeological Service)
Wednesday, September 16, from 6 pm to 7 pm
From the museum to the heart of Laufenburg’s past: during this archaeological walk starting from the Rehmann Museum, we will delve into the layers hidden beneath the city. The earliest traces date back to the Bronze Age and attest that this settlement area was already attracting inhabitants very early. Remnants from this period have been discovered at various locations within the municipal territory, notably under the current Marktgasse and in the cellar of the Schiff Museum. Roman testimonies are also numerous. Excavations conducted by the cantonal archaeological service have uncovered Roman buildings belonging to a small urban center. Storage and warehousing likely played an important role here, as the rapids of the "Laufen" meant that goods transported on the Rhine had to be transferred from one boat to another at Laufenburg during Roman times. The locality could thus have served as a transshipment center for Rhine navigation. By the end of the Middle Ages, the Siechebifang housed – as its name indicates – the infirmary of Laufenburg. Its cellar was uncovered during excavations in 2014. The embankment contained a multitude of well-preserved ceramic vessels, mainly used for storing provisions – a unique glimpse into a medieval hospital establishment. In the old town of Laufenburg, the cantonal archaeological service has cataloged medieval and modern bourgeois houses during recent renovation works.
This archaeological walk not only immerses us in the bygone eras of Laufenburg but also demonstrates how archaeology functions as a science. It explains what conclusions can be drawn from archaeological remains, how the past is reconstructed, and how a lively picture of Laufenburg’s history can be painted. Reto Bucher is an archaeologist and head of the “Medieval and Construction Studies” department at the cantonal archaeological service of Aargau. His book "Arme Siechen!" is dedicated to the hospice of Laufenburg, one of the few medieval hospices still documented in Switzerland today. Benjamin Höpfer is an archaeologist and scientific collaborator at the cantonal archaeological service. He specializes in Middle Bronze Age sites and landscape archaeology. He lives with his family in Laufenburg. The urban space, a multifaceted archive, with independent curator Vera Ryser
Wednesday, September 23, from 6 pm to 7 pm This walk through Laufenburg invites you to read the urban space as a multifaceted archive. The focus is on questions of border delimitation and migration, which have marked the city’s history to this day. The historical division of Laufenburg serves here as a starting point to question how forms of borders, separation, rapprochement, and coexistence have evolved over time and how they have been inscribed into the urban space. From there, the focus shifts to migration stories that have marked Laufenburg. They tell of movement, exchanges, and change, and are still present today through multiple traces. The walk combines a factual approach to local history with an awareness of what often goes unnoticed in the urban space: discreet clues, ruptures, and superimpositions that testify to past events and experiences. Participants are invited to decipher these traces and use them as a starting point for their own questions and imagination. Inspired by Mo Diner’s artistic practice, which combines archaeological research with speculative narrative modes, this public walk also serves as a preparation for the upcoming writing workshop. The impressions collected will serve as raw material not only to reconstruct history but also to rethink and retell it differently. Vera Ryser lives and works in Zurich. She studied comparative literature at the University of Geneva (bachelor’s degree) and the Free University of Berlin (master’s). She works as an independent exhibition curator, organizer of exhibitions, researcher, mediator, and lecturer. She is particularly interested in collaborative practices, aesthetic transformation, and representations of knowledge cultures. She explores decolonial practices, feminist resistance, and memory politics, striving to renegotiate these themes beyond the seemingly well-defined boundaries between practice and theory. Vera Ryser is a founding member of the collectives "Das Wandbild muss weg!" and "Studio for Memory Politics." She also teaches art and culture theory at various art schools and universities in Switzerland. Hidden stories – a writing workshop with Ann Mbuti
Wednesday, September 30, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm What if an old object was the starting point for a new story? Mo Diener connects the past and the future through speculative stories and archaeological traces. This writing workshop is part of this approach: we start with objects, finds, everyday items, and relics from Lauenburg and beyond, and ask ourselves what stories they have yet to tell. What voices are missing? What is hidden behind the commonly accepted narrative? Using creative writing exercises and simple "world-building" methods, we explore together how fiction can be a tool to question history and tell it differently. Inspired by artistic and activist practices – like those of Mo Diener – we proceed playfully, step by step: speculatively, associatively, sometimes utopically. This workshop is suitable for anyone interested in writing as well as for those who, during guided tours of Laufenburg, have wanted to see the city’s history with new eyes. No prior writing experience is required; just an interest in language, history, and the unexpected. At the end of the workshop, participants will leave with concrete writing tools – and perhaps the beginning of a story yet to be told. Ann Mbuti (*1990) is a process design professor and an independent author specializing in contemporary art, pop culture, and social transformation processes. Her work sits at the intersection of theory and practice, with a particular interest in the interactions between art, discourse, and public spheres. Besides writing, her practice includes exhibition curation, lectures, activities, workshops, and interdisciplinary research projects.
Her projects and publications address themes such as contemporary mythologies, science fiction, and the fusion of reality and fiction. She thus explores cultural narratives and the possibilities offered by artistic creation processes to initiate social, political, and ecological change.
Ann lives and works in Basel, Switzerland. Pricing
Guided tour: 15 CHF, reduced rate 10 CHF
Writing workshop: 25 CHF, reduced rate 20 CHF
All three events: 50 CHF – no other discounts. Note: This text was translated by an automatic translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.

Highlights

• Series of three workshops
• Guided historical walks by experts
• Writing workshop with author Ann Mbuti

General Information

The event 'Reading Traces – Writing the Future' takes place at the Rehmann Museum in Laufenburg. It combines archaeological research and creative writing, allowing participants to explore the city’s history while developing their own speculative stories.

Location

Schimelrych 12, 5080 Laufenburg, Switzerland

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