Modern Nature: An Homage to Derek Jarman, Part Three

With Adrien Chevalley, Nina Emge & Charlie Usher, Anne-Laure Franchette, Sunil Gupta, Astrit Ismaili, Tarren Johnson & Joel Cocks, Gleisson Juvino, Kali Malone & Leila Bordreuil, Julie Monot, Garrett Nelson, Real Madrid, Anthony Pateras, Prem Sahib, TETI, Terre Thaemlitz and Alexander Tucker.

Conceived jointly by curator Elise Lammer and La Becque, Modern Nature: An Homage to Derek Jarman is a project which comprises the development of a garden and an artistic program inspired by the life and work of Derek Jarman (1942–94). Created especially for Modern Nature, the garden located on the lakeside grounds of La Becque is a tribute to the one Derek Jarman developed around his Dungeness cottage in the later years of his life, and a reinterpretation of the principles that guided him throughout his gardening process.  

Since 2019, this place within a place at La Becque has served as a platform for interventions by contemporary Swiss and international artists—both close collaborators of Jarman and artists whose practice strongly resonates with his—addressing the global question of identity, notably through avant-garde practices exploring sexuality and gender. Conceived as an open-ended process of layering, the synergies both documented and undocumented taking place between the artists’ contributions and the garden flora gradually grants the garden its autonomy, eventually embodying what a living archive could be.

In resonance with the current health crisis and its impact on artistic production, this third part of Modern Nature will be dedicated to the AIDS crisis, whose Swiss history and impact on culture still seems relatively unknown. Derek Jarman, who died in London in 1994 after a long illness related to HIV, left his mark on a whole generation for his fight against the stigmatisation and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS. Through his prism, and that of the garden he inspired, Modern Nature proposes to re-examine the notions of community and of sanitary isolation (whether voluntary or forced) and the cultural scenes that emerge from or are affected by them.

Full program available on La Becque’s website.

Modern Nature: An Homage to Derek Jarman, Part Three is supported by Fondation Leenaards, Fondation Philanthropique Famille Sandoz, Migros Culture Percentage and Fondation Nestlé pour l’Art.