A visually rich reconception of the archaeological fragment

The collections of the Museum der Kulturen Basel--the largest anthropological museum in Switzerland and one of the most eminent of its kind in Europe--contain numerous fragments that testify to cultural practices of sharing and connecting. Fragments: Pots, Patchworks, Power Figures shows how these items were handled in the past and how they are handled today, and sheds light on what it means to divide, repair, reassemble, even to let something fall apart. Instead of seeing fragments exclusively as signs of loss or as witnesses to the inexorable passage of time, the authors focus on the power of connecting, the art of separating and the force of destruction in the pieces presented.