During a three-month stay in Basel, as part of an artists exchange program, I constructed a sub- section, The Poisons Section of The Portable Hawkers Museum in a suitcase. Inside this suitcase, I placed catalogue photographs of the poisonous objects in the collection of The Portable Hawkers Museum. I also placed photographs of the plaster reproductions of those objects that were installed at the Skulpturenhalle, as well as some photographic documentation of street scenes in Johannesburg, to contextualise these objects for the foreign audience. The first performance took place at the main tram stop, in the square of the middle class part of the town. The second performance took place in the square, outside The Historical Museum, in the upper class part of the town. As with the performances in Johannesburg, the sites were chosen in order to interact with different members of the community. Visitors to my museum were provided with a text, detailing my intentions, and the history of The Portable Hawkers Museum, translated into German, in order to bridge the language gap. These performances took place concurrently with the installation at the Skulpturenhalle, and a group exhibition that I was participating in, in Basel at the time. The aim of the project was to bring part of urban cultural practice from Johannesburg into the European museum context through the simultaneous installation at The Skulpturenhalle and the public performance.
