June 11–September 24, 2022
The 2022 Biennale Bregaglia invites you to a walk-through exhibition in Val Bregaglia. Works by twelve nationally and internationally renowned artists are on display, most of which were created specifically for the 2022 Biennale Bregaglia in close collaboration with the curators Bigna Guyer and Anna Vetsch. This year, the theme of the biennale is interconnection of Bregaglia’s villages. The centre of the exhibition is in Vicosoprano, the former capital of Val Bregaglia.
The 2022 Biennale Bregaglia opens its doors to the public on June 11. The art exhibition is all about interconnection of Bregaglia’s villages. The setting for this second edition of Biennale Bregaglia is the village of Vicosoprano, located in the middle of Val Bregaglia. In Vicosoprano, the artists find numerous points of reference to reflect the peculiarities of everyday life in the valley, as well as its history.
Artists
The following artists are represented at the 2022 Biennale Bregaglia: Nevin Aladağ, Julian Charrière, Zoé Cornelius, Andriu Deplazes, Jeanno Gaussi, Nilbar Güreş, Christian Hörler, Alexandra Navratil, Jiří Makovec & Jiajia Zhang, Val Minnig, Rico Scagliola & Michael Meier, and Lena Maria Thüring.
Wild card
In addition to the artists selected for the 2022 Bregaglia Biennale, a wild card was announced, so as to give an artist who is not yet established the opportunity to present themselves to a wide audience in a nationally acclaimed and internationally renowned exhibition. Artists were invited to address Val Bregaglia and develop a site-specific artwork. In total, over 70 applications for the wild card were received. The winner of the wild card is artist Zoé Cornelius (b. 1992) from Lausanne.
Curators
The 2022 Biennale Bregaglia is curated by the two art historians Bigna Guyer and Anna Vetsch. The curator duo are particularly interested in questions of site-specificity, the interconnectedness of art and everyday life, and art mediation. Vetsch is a freelance curator, co-initiator of projects such as stadtprojektionen in St Gallen, and Curator / Co-Project-Manager for Art at La Mobilière. Guyer was Curator of the Canton of Zurich’s Art Collection from 2018 to 2022 and is currently working on a dissertation about contemporary sculptural practice.
The two curators broadly interpret the overarching theme of interconnection of Val Bregaglia’s villages and identify it in the geography of the valley, the forces of nature and the arrangement of the villages, as well as in various natural-historical events and social-historical developments, such as the trade route to the south, the construction of the pass road and Albigna dam, the Reformation and witch trials. One important source is oral history: reports from the local population, which allow conclusions to be drawn about the current living conditions in the valley.
History of Biennale Bregaglia
Biennale Bregaglia is organised by the association Progetti d’arte in Val Bregaglia. In recent years, Val Bregaglia has become an important exhibition venue for contemporary art. Since it was founded in 2012, the association Progetti d’arte in Val Bregaglia has been committed to the promotion and realisation of exhibitions, projects and events in the area, pertaining to contemporary art.
Publication
Scheidegger&Spiess/Edizioni Casagrande is publishing a book on the occasion of the Biennale Bregaglia 2022, which, in addition to an extensive picture section, also contains a text on each of the exhibited works. For more information, visit here.
Fringe programme
Throughout the duration of Biennale Bregaglia, numerous events and a comprehensive fringe programme are planned, including guided tours, panel discussions, artist talks and readings. For more information, visit here.
Biennale Bregaglia 2022
June 11–September 24
Vicosoprano, Switzerland
Free admission
