The Swiss mountains are full of surprises. One of those is the Art Biennale ART SAFIENTAL which will take place in the Safien Valley (Grisons/Switzerland) from July 2nd to October 23rd, 2022. For the fourth time since its inception in 2016, international artists and participants in the Alps Art Academy create temporary works in dialogue with landscape and nature. These artworks will be freely accessible (and presented free of charge) throughout the Safien Valley as part of ART SAFIENTAL.
The unusual biennale, taking place deep in the Swiss alps was conceived by the ILEA Institute for Land and Environmental Art when the institute was still in its infancy itself, in 2016.
ILEA is a center for competence and research in art, ecology, and creative industries. The center is already open and functional, yet also currently still in the process of growing and being fully established.
Since 2020 it is based at Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna in the Safiental valley of Graubünden.
In this valley, ILEA organizes the ART SAFIENTAL every two years.
Further, the institute organizes one to two exhibitions per year for the ILEA Gallery in the Berghotel Alpenblick. As well as producing individual works of art throughout the year.
The institute also offers consulting in various artistic and ecologic disciplines, on an organizational as well as on a creative basis.
In the area of education, ILEA organizes the international summer school Alps Art Academy every two years, as well as the ILEA Talks.
Further engagement includes an ongoing teaching collaboration with the Zurich University of the Arts and other, similar educational offers throughout Switzerland.
The ART SAFIENTAL Biennale has fast grown into an event that can’t be ignored by the wider, worldwide artistic community.
Every two years, the international outdoor exhibition with a changing focus on the latest trends in Land and Environmental Art, presents artworks under a different theme.
First it was New Land Art (2016), then Horizontal – Vertical (2018), and Analog – Digital (2020).
The theme for 2022 is: Learning from the Earth.
ILEA states, “The on-site artistic works result from a dialogue with nature and the environment.”
“Created in the spirit of a transdisciplinary practice, they are concerned with questioning, exploring, and revising the historical term Land Art as well as transdisciplinary practice.”
“The artists’ works constitute proposals for a possible future Land Art which integrates the environment, history and society into its production in addition to landscape and nature.”
“Incorporating the notions of landscape and nature, the created works reimagine Land Art into a practice which integrates the environmental, historical and societal aspects.”
The artworks of ART SAFIENTAL are all temporary.
They are spread over the length of twenty-five miles through the Safien Valley, starting from Versam at the entrance to the valley, through Tenna and Safien in its middle, and onwards to Thalkirch and Turrahus at the valley’s end.
The ART SAFIENTAL exhibition is accompanied by an art hiking map, which provides visitors with the exact location of the artworks and some interesting facts about the exhibition, the individual works, Land and Environmental Art, and Safiental.
Next to being the center of the Academy which organizes the event, the Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna serves as an information center, including a small library on the subject of land and environmental art and the participating artists.
Diverse guided tours are organized during the exhibition, as well as events such as talks and performances.
Link
Official Website ART SAFIENTAL
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