Survey

In February 2024, the Beverin Nature Park conducted a survey among the residents of Safiental regarding the ART SAFIENTAL Biennale and the ALPS ART ACADEMY summer school. The aim was to record and collect expectations, wishes and needs regarding the art and cultural initiatives. A total of 117 responses were received (952 inhabitants live in Safiental). The ILEA association will be evaluating the survey results over the next few weeks and then inviting the valley community to a discussion on the future of cultural activities in Safiental. The date and location of the event will be communicated shortly.  We would like to thank all Safiental residents who took part in the survey.

A first brief preview of the survey results can be found here:  Survey Art Safiental 2024

Crowdfunding

Save the date

July 6 – October 20, 2024
5. ART SAFIENTAL – Biennale for Land and Environmental Art
„WHAT IF? Songs from Tomorrowlands“
Safiental, Switzerland

Works by:
Ravi Agarwal + Paulina Lopez (IN, CL)
Paloma Ayala (MX/CH)
Magali Dougoud (CH)
Hemauer/Keller (CH)
Monica Ursina Jaeger (CH)
Vibeke Mascini (NL)
Ernesto Neto (BR)
Ola Maciejewska (PL)
Quarto (BR/SE)
Stefanie Salzmann (CH)
Renae Shadler (AUS/DE)
Andrea Francesco Todisco (CH)
Huhtamaki Wab (JP/UK)
a.o.

Curated by:
Anne-Laure Franchette, Johannes M. Hedinger, Josiane Imhasly, Joanna Lesnierowska

The 5. Biennale for Land and Environmental Art will take place between July 6 – October 20, 2024, in Safiental (Grisons, Switzerland). 13 national and international art positions will create temporary outdoor works in dialogue with the landscape. Distributed over the entire valley the installations will be accessible daily free of charge for around four months. A short guide with a map will be published to accompany the exhibition, followed by a catalogue in autumn. The festival center is located at Berghotel Alpenblick Tenna, which is also home to ILEA (Institute for Land and Environmental Art), the ILEA Gallery and the ILEA Residency program.

Among the over 60 artists and projects from previous Biennales, you find artists such as Lita Albuquerque, Ursula Biemann, Julius von Bismarck, James Bridle, Bob Gramsma, Ingeborg Lüscher, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Raumlabor, Analia Saban, Roman Signer, Steiner/Lenzlinger, Ben Vautier and many others.
The founder and artistic director of the Art Safiental Biennale is Johannes M. Hedinger.
The exhibition is organized by the ILEA Institute for Land and Environmental Art, and sponsored by the Beverin Nature Park in partnership with the municipality of Safiental.

Support Culture

Dear cultural friends and shoppers at MIGROS (Switzerland): Support our association ILEA (Institute for Land and Environmental Art) with your purchase (The Support Culture-campaign only runs until April 15). Many thanks in advance! DIREKTLINK

ILEA Gallery

Well-attended opening of the exhibition “Stories of Gras“ by the Indian artist Dharmendra Prasad at ILEA Gallery. In the summer of 2022 the artist spent three months in the ILEA artist residence in Tenna, intensively researching and producing on the subject of grass (including the Grass Museum, which was part of the Biennale Art Safiental and whose facade can still be visited. During this time in Tenna, the artist began to deal intensively with grass and to work with it as a material and medium.  The exhibition shows both a retrospective of this phase, as well as the continuation of his work in India on the same theme. 

The exhibition runs until 29.10.2023 and can be visited during the opening hours of the Berghotel Alpenblick (Wed-Sat 10-22, Sun 10-18, Mo+Tues rest days), there are information sheets available on each floor for a self-guided tour. The exhibition extends over 4 floors. The exhibition is curated by Johannes M. Hedinger and Shazeb Shaikh. Produced by ILEA and EAE (Environmental Art Exchange). ILEA and ILEA Gallery is supported by Naturpark Beverin and the municipality of Safiental.
Handout
Pressetext

Season’s Greetings

To our friends, collaborators, partners, alumni, visitors, guest and all interested parties:
We want all the war, sickness, and death that 2022 brought to come to an end. We wish all of you a safer, more peaceful and joyous 2023.
Warmly, Team ILEA

We look back on an eventful year:
The art summer was packed with the 4th Art Safiental Biennale on the theme “Learning from the Earth”, the 4th Alps Art Academy and the 3rd ILEA Talks, three established initiatives returned and new ones were established and expanded: In the ILEA Residency, thanks to a cooperation with Pro Helvetia (To-gather), we could welcome for the first time two long-term guests from India: Shazeb Shaikh and Dharmendra Prasad, whose Grass Museum many still remember from the Biennale. Both are returning to the ILEA Gallery in Alpenblick next year with the exhibition “Grass Stories” (opening 12/31/22).
The exhibition in the ILEA Gallery shown in the expiring year presented Marcus Maeder with his research project ACLA, which will be continued next year and extended to a 2nd forest area together with the partners from ZHdK, WSL and the forest service Safiental. The second ongoing research project “Safientaler Gespräche”, Oral History with Dominik Landwehr, will also continue next year, undergo an evaluation and an opening.
In spring, the reader “Learning from the Earth” is announced, which we were recently able to finance through a crowdfunding campaign.
The construction of the ILEA Institute – the future umbrella structure for all projects, the competence and research center for art, ecology and creative industries in the peripheral Alpine region – which has already begun this year, will be further advanced in the coming year. Currently, this undertaking is receiving support from the UBS Cultural Foundation and the NRP Berggebietsprogramm.

We wish you happy holidays, a good start into the new year – and look forward to seeing you again in the Safiental in 2023.

(Photo: Grass Museum by Dharmendra Prasad, Art Safiental 2022)

Stories of Grass

The new exhibition at the ILEA Gallery in the Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna features “Stories of Grass”, a solo presentation by Indian artist Dharmendra Prasad. He spent about three months in the ILEA artist residency in Tenna last summer. During this time, he began to work intensively with grass as a material and medium. In the process, grass developed into a non-human personality for him. The exhibition is both a retrospective of the works created in Tenna (objects, drawings, texts, photographs, videos, performances and installations), and also the continuation of his work in India on the same topic. The Grass Museum above Tenna, which was part of the last Art Safiental Biennale can still be visited until the end of winter, is probably still well remembered by the local public.

Opening: 31. Dec 16.00 with guided tour and apéro
exhibition dates: 31. Dec 2022 –  29. Oct 2023
Handout

we made it!

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding campaign for the publication on the annual theme LEARNING FROM THE EARTH.
We would be very happy about your support – Fine rewards are waiting (books, knowledge, art, culinary and adventure in the Safiental) + and / or please also share – thank you in advance!
>> https://wemakeit.com/projects/learn-from-the-earth
(The promotion runs only until December 4, 2022)

SHORT FACTS

15 Essays + 15 art projects

german/english, ca. 120 pages

publishing date early 2023

Vexer Verlag St.Gallen/Berlin

TEXTS:

Annemarie Bucher (CH), Damian Christinger (CH), T.J. Demos (US), Friday for Future, Donna Haraway (US), Johannes M. Hedinger (CH), Naomi Klein (CA), Klimastreik (CH), Bruno Latour (FR), James Lovelock (UK), Timothy Morton (US), Dharmendra Prasad (IN), Michel Serres (FR), Vandana Shiva (IN), Greta Thumberg (SE) u.a.

ART PROJECTS BY:

Lara Almarcegui (ES, NL), Badel/Sarbach (CH), Ursula Biemann (CH), Julius von Bismarck (DE), Buchli/Isenschmid (CH), Com&Com (CH), Saskia Edens (CH), Lithic Alliance (CH/BE), Marcus Maeder (CH), !Mediengruppe Bitnik (CH/DE), Dharmendra Prasad (IN), Simon/Odermatt (CH), Sound Kite Ensemble (CH), Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger (CH), Ben Vautier (FR/CH).

Closing Program

Closing Program 21/22. Okt 2022 > PDF

Final Presentations Alps Art Academy

Program of the final presentations of the projects of the Alps Art Academy 2022 – 3.9.22: o8.30 – 17.30, Tenna >PDF

T.J. Demos: Unlearning Ecocide

Friday, August 26 2022, 8:30-9:15 PM CEST;
T.J. DEMOS: Unlearning Ecocide
ILEA Talks, August 26.-28, 2002, Tenna, Switzerland

Unlearning Ecocide 
To learn from the earth, we must unlearn ecocide. That is no easy thing, as “we” are all inhabitants of the planet subjected–differentially–to the ongoing terms of racial, colonial, and extractive capitalism. Nonetheless, this unlearning emerges as a political imperative at the present time of climate breakdown, where global society, including diverse artistic cultures, face the collective challenge of transforming everything in order to ensure survival. What are the terms of this un/learning, and how can artistic practice aid the struggle?

T. J. Demos teaches art history and visual culture at UC Santa Cruz, and directs its Center for Creative Ecologies. He writes about contemporary art, global politics, and ecology and is the author of numerous books, including Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and Political Ecology (Sternberg Press, 2016), Against the Anthropocene: Visual Culture and Environment Today, (Sternberg Press, 2017), and most recently, Beyond the World’s End: Arts of Living at the Crossing (Duke University Press, 2020).

Streaming via YouTube
www.alpsartacademy.ch
www.ilea.art

ILEA Talks

Under the Title of the Biennal and as part of the Alps Art Academy and there will be a multi-day symposium from Friday evening, August 26 to Sunday noon, August 28, 2022.

Friday August 26.: 20.15  – 21.30
Saturday August 27.: 14 – 19.30
Sunday August 28.: 08.15 – 14.00

Streaming via YouTube

Detailed Program PDF

Keynotes:
Ursula Biemann / T.J. Demos / Fernando Garcia-Dory
Lectures: 
Ravi Agarwal / Annemarie Bucher / Damian Christinger / Anne-Laure Franchette / Johannes M. Hedinger / Hanna Hölling / Cathérine Hug / Marcus Maeder / Martin Ott / Dharmendra Prasad / Shazeb Shaik

The symposium will take place in a hybrid form – partly with locally present speakers, partly online. The event is open to the public and aimed at a broad audience. A link to the live stream will be provided in August and will be accessible to all interested parties.  Live Stream on YouTube.

Info Map Art Safiental

Overview map of all works and locations of the Art Safiental Biennale 2022. Digital HERE and as printed version from 2.7.22 in all village stores, restaurants, hotels and tourist points in the Safiental. Map in partnership with Transhelvetica.

Opening program

Flyer

Art Summer 2022

ART SAFIENTAL
BIENNALE FÜR LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL ART
Lara Almarcegui (ES/NL) Badel/Sarbach (CH) Ursula Biemann (CH)
Julius von Bismarck (DE) Buchli/Isenschmid (CH) Com&Com (CH)
Saskia Edens (CH) Lithic Alliance (CH/BE) Marcus Maeder (CH)
!Mediengruppe Bitnik (CH/DE) Dharmendra Prasad (IN) Simon/Odermatt (CH)
Sound Kite Ensemble (CH) Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger (CH)
Ben Vautier (FR/CH) – Kurator: Johannes M. Hedinger

VERNISSAGE
Sa/So 2./3. Juli 2022, Besichtigungen und Performances an
verschiedenen Standorten. Details hier
Sa 2. Juli 11 Uhr Ansprache und Apéro, Berghotel Alpenblick, Tenna

FÜHRUNGEN
So, 24. Juli / 14. Aug / 18. Sep / 9. Okt 2022
Jeweils ganztägige Führung, Info und Anmeldung hier

EVENTS / FINISSAGE
Sound Kite Ensemble: 2., 3., und 31. Juli, 3. Sept 2022, Details hier
507 Nanometer «Beneath Blind», 28. Aug 2022, altes Acla-Tunnel
Finissage: Sa / So, 22. / 23. Okt 2022, Details ab Okt auf Website

PARTNER PROJEKTE
Klimapavillon Safiental «Gää&Nää» in Valendas
Briefkunst von Kindern mit DIE POST in Tenna
Kinderzeichnungen der Gesamtschule Tenna in Versam
Kunst Garage Versam

ALPS ART ACADEMY
25. Aug – 3. Sep 2022, Sommerakademie für Land and Environmental
Art, Berghotel Alpenblick, Tenna. www.alpsartacademy.ch

ILEA AUSSTELLUNGEN
Bis 23. Okt 2022, Berghotel Alpenblick, Tenna
«ACLA: Texturen», Forschungsprojekt von Marcus Maeder
«Safientaler Gespräche», Hörstation Oral History-Projekt
«Art Safiental Gallery», Fotos von allen Werken 2016–2022

ILEA TALKS
27. / 28. Aug 2022, Symposium für Land and Environmental Art,
Tenna und online. Detailprogramm ab Aug auf der Webseite

Teaser Biennale 2022

ART SAFIENTAL – Biennale for Land and Environmental Art
Safiental – Switzerland (7/2 – 10/23, 2022)

works by
Lara Almarcegui (ES), Badel/Sarbach (CH), Ursula Biemann (CH), Julius von Bismarck (DE), Buchli/Isenschmid (CH), Com&Com (CH), Saskia Edens (CH), Lithic Alliance (CH/BE), Marcus Maeder (CH), !Mediengruppe Bitnik (CH/DE), Dharmendra Prasad (IN), Simon/Odermatt (CH), Sound Kite Ensemble (CH), Steiner/Lenzlinger (CH), Ben Vautier (FR/CH)

curated by
JOHANNES M. HEDINGER

organized by
INSTITUTE FOR LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL ART

produced by
NATURPARK BEVERIN SAFIENTAL TOURISMUS

video by
THOMAS RICKENMANN

sound by
FABIAN GUTSCHER

Mail Art competition

A cooperation between Art Safiental and Swiss Post, based on an idea by H.R. Fricker. We are looking for letter envelopes artistically designed by children that reflect the theme “Learning from the Earth” in an impressive and surprising way. The works will be on display in the valley’s restaurants throughout the exhibition period of the Biennale. The deadline for entries is June 3, 2022.
> Competition task / Conditions of participation / Prizes

Call extended

Only a few places left: Apply until May 29 and join us at the international summer school for land and environmental art in the Swiss Alps!
Topic 2022: „Learning from the Earth“.
The 4th international Alps Art Academy will take place between Aug 25–Sept 3, 2022, in Safiental (Grisons, Switzerland). The summer school focuses on contemporary approaches to Land and Environmental Art by bringing them into a relationship with the Alpine landscape.
We encourage proposal submissions from artists working with landscape and the environment across genres and media, as well as from theoreticians, facilitators and curators engaged in research on the topic of Land Art. We welcome applications accompanied by a concrete concept that can be realized during the period of the summer school.
Gathering circa twenty participants over a period of ten days, the Academy offers a rich program of workshops, seminars, field trips, artist talks and presentations, as well as a thematic symposium. Participants have the opportunity to explore what does it mean to create in, and interact with, the Alpine landscape and apply their experience in their work.
Workshops: NatureCulture / Local Context / Eating Earth / Earth on Air / Theorizing Ecology
The requirements, selection criteria, procedure, forms, FAQ and terms and conditions can be found here

Call Academy

The call for applications for the 4th Alps Art Academy on the theme “Learning from the Earth” has just been published here and on Art & Education.
Please apply by May 29 at the latest. The requirements, selection criteria, procedure, forms, FAQ and terms and conditions can be found here. – We are looking forward to your applications – see you soon in the Swiss Alps!

ILEA Workshop

Impressions from the ILEA Kick Off-Workshop on 4/5.3.22 in Tenna. Think Tank and workshops for a new competence and research centre for creative economy in Safiental. Organized by the future Institute for Land and Environmental Art. Workshops run by Dezentrum, hosted by Alpenblick Tenna and Gemeinde Safiental. Supported by NRP Berggebietsprogramm, Coaching by Seecon (Pics by: Benedikt Joos, Dominik Landwehr, Andrea Studer, Lena Witschi, Johannes Hedinger)

Mountains of Art

We have just received a copy of “MOUNTAINTS OF ART” (Berge von Kunst), the new book by Ute Watzl, who has earlier reported on Art Safiental in 2020 (here). The beautifully designed, over 200 p. heavy book portrays 2o art locations in the Swiss, Austrian, German and Italian Alps. Our Biennale has the honor of opening the volume with a total of 12 pages and 15 illustrations, including the back cover. Published by AS Verlag, > more info and order

Acla Video Doc

Documentary on the ongoing ecoacoustic research and art project by Marcus Maeder for ILEA and Art Safiental Biennale 2022. Currently on show at Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna/Safiental, Switzerland. Commissioned by the Institute for Land and Environmental Art, supported by Naturpark Beverin, Gemeinde Safiental and Amt für Natur und Umwelt GR.
Documentation by Pascal Derungs, Jean Claude Plattner (c) by plattnerfilms.

ACLA: Textures

The latest exhibition in the ILEA Gallery at the Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna provides insight into the ongoing research project ACLA by Marcus Maeder as well as a preview of the upcoming Art Safiental Biennale “Learning from the earth” in the summer of 2022, in which this sound research can be actively experienced.
Opening: Dec 30, 5pm / Talk/Listening: Dec 31 3pm / on view until: March 27 2022
Presstext/Saalblatt /about the artist: Marcus Maeder

1: Klangtexturen 1, 2021  (Marcus Maeder)
2: Messstation ACLA 1, 2021  (Marcus Maeder)
3: Motiv/Variation 1, 2021 (Marcus Maeder)

Mass movements

It is with great pleasure that we announce the new publication “Massenbewegungen / mass movements” edited by by me and ILEA Institute and published at Vexer Verlag. The most comprehensive monograph to date on the work of Swiss artist Patrick Rohner offers an overview of the entire oeuvre of the last 20 years and is published in conjunction with the solo exhibition “Steine zeichnen” (Drawing Stones), which runs until the end of October at the Institute for Land and Environmental Art in the Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna, Safiental. 
D/E, 340 p., 1800 ill., design: TGG St.Gallen. ISBN 978-3-907112-46-5
with 14 texts (Konrad Bitterli, Katja Blomberg, David N. Bresch, Annette Gigon, Johannes M. Hedinger, Invar-Torre Hollaus, Peter Hubacher, Patrick Rohner, Hans-Jakob Schindler, Yael Schindler Wildhaber, Ruben Alexander Schuster, Cornelia Schwierz, Lucie Tuma, Helmut Weissert, Roland Wäspe)

book presentation + author talk

The Institute for Land and Environmental Art and the artist Patrick Rohner invite you to the book vernissage and author talk. The publication “Mass Movements”, published by the ILEA, gathers all the important groups of works of the last 20 years and shows for the first time the entire range of media in which the artist expresses himself. – DE/EN, 340 pages, Vexer Publisher, ISBN: 978-3-907112-46-5

Saturday, September 25, 2021, 1:30 p.m., Berghotel Alpenblick, Tenna

Program
13.30 h Book presentation with aperitif
14.00 – 15.00 Author talk with Patrick Rohner, David N. Bresch and Johannes M. Hedinger
15.00 Guided tour with the artist Patrick Rohner through the exhibition at Berghotel Alpenblick

Preview Aclatobel

Preview of the Art Summer 2022: in July the eco-acoustic long-term observation of the Aclatobel in the Safiental was started. An artistic research work by Marcus Maeder, which will also be part of the Art Safiental Biennale 2022 (theme: “Learning from the Earth”).

 

Podcast – 2. season

6 more valley conversations have been added to our podcast. The ILEA podcast is a collection of short audio interviews with actors of the Institute for Land and Environmental Art and residents of the Safiental.
Currently, over 30 conversations are available on Soundcloud. They were all conducted by Dominik Landwehr.

ILEA Podcast

ILEA-Podcast is a collection of short Audio-Interviews with artists from the 2020 Art Safiental Biennal, participants of the 2020 Alps Art Academy, members of the Institute for Land and Environmental Art and inhabitants of Tenna/Safiental.
Currently 25 conversations (all conducted by Dominik Landwehr) are available on Soundcloud. More interviews with artists of the Biennale 2020 and inhabitants of Safiental are in planing. All conversations will be migrated to the ILEA Institute-Website which is currently under constructions.

ILEA exhibition: Patrick Rohner

Seit Sommer 2020 finden im ILEA Institute for Land and Environmental Art im Berghotel Alpenblick Tenna regelmässig auch indoor Ausstellungen statt. Aktuell ist es die Ausstellung “STEINE ZEICHNEN” von Patrick Rohner. Es ist eine Fortsetzung seiner Biennale Arbeit von 2020. Damals entstanden im schwerzugänglichen Carnusatobel bei Safien-Platz zwölf «Steinzeichnungen», die nun erstmalig zu sehen sind. Zu Beginn des Sommers 2020 wurden grosse, weisse Büttenpapiere in die Schluchtlandschaft ausgelegt, mit je einem grossen Stein beschwert und knapp fünf Monate der Witterung ausgesetzt. Im November 2020 wurden dann die Blätter gehoben und die Prozessarbeit beendet. Deutlich zeichnen sich die Silhouetten der Steine ab, hervorgerufen von eingeschwemmten Sedimenten der darüber liegenden Steine, teils vermischt mit Material des umliegenden Wald-, Fels- und Flussbodens. Der Künstler setzte einen Rahmen, die Natur führte den Pinsel. Ein «Natural Ready Made».

Die Resultate sind bis zum 24. Oktober 2021 im Berghotel Alpenblick zu sehen, zusammen mit zwei weiteren Werkblöcken: den «Begehungen» und «Wasserzeichnungen».

«Begehungen» sind mehrstündige Wanderungen im Safiental, während denen der Künstler tausende von Fotos von der Landschaft und den Topographien macht. Abzüge dieser Bilder fügt er dann anschliessend zu einem grossen quiltartigen Teppich zusammen. In einem jüngsten Schritt übernimmt neu nun eine Drohne dieses visuelle Abtasten. Der dritte Komplex, die «Wasserzeichnungen» entstehen regelmässig im Atelier des Künstlers, parallel zu Rohners ebenfalls meist über Jahre prozessual entstehenden Ölgemälden. Über mehrere Monate werden horizontal ausgelegte Papiere mit farbigem Wasser begossen und eingetrocknet. Dies führt zu zufälligen Strukturen und letztendlich imaginären Landschafen.

Mittels Videos, Materialvitrine, Handbibliothek, Schaubildern und Saaltexten werden die verschiedenen Zyklen und Arbeitsschritte dem Publikum näher gebracht.

Komplette Werkliste + Foto-Rundgang > PDF
Kuratiert von Johannes M. Hedinger

Im Sommer erscheint die Monographie «Patrick Rohner: Massenbewegung» im Vexer Verlag St.Gallen/Berlin. Die die entsprechende Buchvernissage wird noch gesondert kommuniziert.
Informationen zu Patrick Rohner:  www.patrickrohnerartist.com