Five-year anniversary

Inaugurated in 2018 under the auspices of Fondation Françoise Siegfried-Meier and in full operation since spring 2019, La Becque’s artist residence in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, will celebrate its fifth anniversary in its lakeside gardens on Saturday, May 25, 2024, with a series of projects by former residents and guest artists, invited especially for the occasion. The free and open-to-all program will feature, among other highlights, an open-air performance by the ten-strong Basel-based ensemble Alponom, who will present the Swiss premiere of the piece You Origin (for alphorns) by American artist Stephen O’Malley, a resident at La Becque in 2021.

Located on a lush lakeside estate, La Becque welcomes artists from all over the world for creative residencies ranging from a few days to several months. Since its opening in 2018, it has paid particular attention to artistic practices that focus on the interactions between nature, the environment, and technology—notions that are more interconnected than ever and at the heart of contemporary concerns. La Becque is proud to have followed the projects of close to 300 up-and-coming and established artists from all backgrounds and disciplines.

Situated close to most of Switzerland’s cultural and natural attractions, La Becque has also earned an international reputation in the world of artist residencies, thanks in particular to partnerships with the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL), the Valais School of Art (EDHEA), Pro Helvetia—Swiss Arts Council, the Swiss Institute in New York, Centre culturel suisse in Paris and, more recently, the Plateforme 10 arts district in Lausanne.

Deeply convinced of the importance of the various stages in the development of a work, La Becque offers its residents a unique opportunity to research and reflect, rather than insisting on the production of a “finished artistic product”. By focusing on and facilitating the transitional phases of artistic work rather than capitalizing on pure creation, La Becque supports the long-term development of its guest artists.

For this fifth anniversary, La Becque director Luc Meier and curator Vanessa Cimorelli will open the estate to the public, calling on alumni·ae artists to put together an inclusive, transdisciplinary program, highlighting the international community that has grown around the residency.

The program will feature a sound performance by the ten musicians of the Basel-based ensemble Alponom, led by instrumentalist Balthasar Streiff, who will play a piece for alphorn by Stephen O’Malley. Based on shifts, echo, and reprise, O’Malley’s composition will premiere in Switzerland and will be performed twice during the day, at dawn and dusk.

French sculptor Cécile Bouffard and British-American dancer Ruth Childs, both former residents, will present their piece Delicate People, which blends their respective practices. Performed outdoors in the garden, the piece will see Childs interact and become one with objects imagined by Bouffard.

A resident at the time of La Becque’s anniversary, Kosovan artist Astrit Ismaili will present The First Flower, a concert-performance of their first solo album that addresses the transformative potential of bodies and spaces. Exploring the importance of the voice in pop culture and its relationship to identity politics, Ismaili’s work embodies the possibility of constructing new worlds and shaping new icons, while blurring the intimate relationship between performer and audience.

The celebrations will also feature the world premiere of a sound creation that combines the worlds of Chilean artist Nicole L’Huillier (a 2023 resident at La Becque) and Swiss-Martinican artist Nathalie Rebholz.

South Korean cellist, composer, and improviser Okkyung Lee, a resident in 2023, will offer a live performance in reaction to the architecture, audience, and objects around her, producing an immersive experience that will challenge the hierarchy inherent in traditional concerts.

Finally, the duo Time is Away (British artist Jack Rollo and Irish historian Elaine Tierney), will perform a DJ set in the middle of La Becque’s luxuriant garden. Renowned for their genre-defying programming, their work is part of an ongoing reflection on the fragmentary, contingent, and shifting relationships between time, place, and power.

Free admission, bar and food on site.