The Sea Inside Us
Thursday evening, 1 October 2026
Ticket sales now closed!
SOLD OUT!
Film and live sean-nós music unite for a one-off event, connecting Ireland’s arts with the industrial and geological heritage of Pratteln
On Thursday evening 1 October 2026, Salina Helvetica and Basel Irish Club will host a landmark cultural event at Schweizerhalle - Pratteln’s iconic salt processing site in operation since 1837, presenting Irish artist Ruth E. Lyons' acclaimed debut film The Sea Inside Us (2025, made in collaboration with Director of Photography Colm Hogan), together with a live performance by the musicians who composed its original score.
Journeying across the site's production facilities to Schweizerhalle’s salt mountain housed in a purpose-built wooden hall, the event brings the audience into direct, physical contact with the film's subject: the vast Zechstein Sea, an ancient body of salt water whose geological seam stretches from Ireland to Russia, and which Lyons has spent over a decade tracing through collaboration with salt mines across Europe.
This venue is also important to the project because of the origin of the location’s name “Schweizerhalle” (meaning: Swiss Hall or Swiss Salt Works).
This October 1st event at Schweizerhalle is one of two Swiss dates this year by Lyons and her artistic collaborators, it’s followed by an afternoon event at Salina Helvetica's Mines de Sel de Bex site in Canton Vaud on 3rd October 2026. The tour is produced by Basel-based Irish curator Emer Lynch, supported by Salina Helvetica, Salines Suisses SA, Basel Irish Club, the Embassy of Ireland in Switzerland and Culture Ireland.
Under the countries of northern Europe, there is the remains of an ancient ocean—a bed of salt that extends from Ireland to Russia. For ten years, artist Ruth E Lyons has been tracing this seam, making carvings from rock salt of various colours. Now her debut collaborative film, The Sea Inside Us (2025, Ireland, 23 minutes), follows her into salt mines hundreds of metres underground and across snow-capped alpine mountain ranges. Against these epic backdrops, salt becomes a prism through which she formulates questions that fathom the unknowable, while reaching for the eternal.
The Sea Inside Us was shot on location at the artist's home on Ireland's Atlantic coast, in Sicily, and at Salina Helvetica's sites across Switzerland, including at Schweizerhalle in Pratteln itself, making this screening a homecoming to one of the film's principal locations.
The film's original score, composed by sean-nós singer Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, will be performed live onsite at Schweizerhalle, in addition to new lyrical pieces created for the tour. Further insight into the film's origins is provided by an artists’ in-conversation taking place during the event, as well as pieces from Lyons’ sculptural series ‘Salarium’ presented in situ.
Ticket sales now closed!
SOLD OUT!
The event includes a tour of the site and apéro.
The artists are travelling to Switzerland for the occasion, kindly supported by Culture Ireland.
Tickets for non-members (i.e. not members of the Basel Irish Club): CHF 35 - One ticket left - until it’s sold!
Tickets for Basel Irish Club Members (2026 membership): CHF 25 - Sold out!
Venue: Besuchszentrum Salina Helvetica, Rheinstrasse 51d, 4133 Pratteln
Date and Time: Thursday 1 October 2026, 18:15 - 20:30
Accessibility: As this event takes place inside a salt processing site, please wear closed shoes.
For safety reasons, event participants must have full mobility as, unfortunately, it’s not possible to bring mobility aids onsite.
The Sea Inside Us
Ticket sales temporarily reopened until previously reserved tickets which are now being made available are sold out!
SOLD OUT!
Thurday evening, 1st of October 2026
Film and live sean-nós music unite for a one-off event, connecting Ireland’s arts with the industrial and geological heritage of Pratteln
Salina Helvetica and Basel Irish Club are delighted to present ‘The Sea Inside Us’ by artist Ruth E. Lyons this October. This one-off event unites film and live sean-nós music, connecting Ireland’s arts with the industrial and geological heritage of Pratteln, Kanton Basel-Landschaft.
Under the countries of northern Europe, there is the remains of an ancient ocean—a bed of salt that extends from Ireland to Russia. For ten years, artist Ruth E Lyons has been tracing this seam, making carvings from rock salt of various colours. Now her debut collaborative film, The Sea Inside Us (2025, Ireland, 23 minutes), follows her into salt mines hundreds of metres underground and across snow-capped alpine mountain ranges. Against these epic backdrops, salt becomes a prism through which she formulates questions that fathom the unknowable, while reaching for the eternal.
The Sea Inside Us was shot on location at the artist's home on Ireland's Atlantic coast, in Sicily, and at Salina Helvetica's sites across Switzerland, including at Schweizerhalle in Pratteln itself, making this screening a homecoming to one of the film's principal locations.
The film's original score, composed by sean-nós singer Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, will be performed live onsite at Schweizerhalle, in addition to new lyrical pieces created for the tour. Further insight into the film's origins is provided by an artists’ in-conversation taking place during the event, as well as pieces from Lyons’ sculptural series ‘Salarium’ presented in situ.
Venue: Besuchszentrum Salina Helvetica, Rheinstrasse 51d, 4133 Pratteln
6.15pm - 8:30pm, Thursday 1 October 2026
Ticket booking open now - limited stock!
The event includes a tour of the site and apéro
Accessibility: As this event takes place inside a salt processing site, please wear closed shoes.
For safety reasons, event participants must have full mobility as, unfortunately, it’s not possible to bring mobility aids onsite.
The artists are travelling to Switzerland for the occasion, kindly supported by Culture Ireland.
Tickets:
Adult / Non member: CHF 35 - only one ticket left - until it’s sold!
Adult / Basel Irish Club Member (2026): CHF 25 - SOLD OUT
Venue:
Besuchszentrum Salina Helvetica, Rheinstrasse 51d, 4133 Pratteln