Energies
Gstaad, Switzerland
February 2–March 16, 2025
The sixth edition of Elevation 1049, centred on the concept of Energies, has been organised with the Luma Foundation’s invitation of Stefanie Hessler, Director of Swiss Institute in New York, as guest curator. Featuring works by 14 artists and collectives, the exhibition spans two indoor venues—the Carpentry in Schönried and the Station in Saanen, Gstaad—and includes new commissions and outdoor installations. Through the lens of an international cohort of artists, Elevation 1049 explores the ecological affordances and effects, social formations, and political arrangements attached to energy past and present.
With: Nina Canell & Robin Watkins, Liu Chuang, Louisa Gagliardi, Nikita Gale, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Theaster Gates, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Saba Khan / Pak Khawateen Painting Club, Maria Loizidou, Vibeke Mascini, Haroon Mirza, Himali Singh Soin, Oscar Tuazon.
Climate change is acutely felt in the Swiss Alps, where snow cover duration has decreased by 38 days since 1970. Globally, the impacts of global warming are evident in infrastructure disruptions caused by extreme weather, along with the ecological effects of carbon emissions, fossil fuel extraction, competing geopolitical interests, energy poverty, and unevenly distributed green energy futures—all of which demand a rethinking of our relationship with energy. Manifesting differently throughout geographically distinct yet interdependent locales, the exhibition highlights global issues related to energy through a diverse roster of international artistic perspectives.
The artworks in the exhibition propose critical, poetic, and ingenious ways to imagine cautiously optimistic, community-driven energy futures. From archaic sources like fire to contemporary solar panels, the artists highlight the uneven benefits and effects of urgent energy innovations while pointing towards speculative, mutualistic alternatives. They explore ancestral knowledge systems and their reverberances in digital technologies, connections between spirituality and nuclear cultures, and fluctuating thresholds in elemental phase transition and climatic cycles. The works encompass transfers of energy in heat, sound, and collaboration—or social energies—pointing to the potential of energetic circulation and transformation. Through this multi-layered web of artworks, this year’s Elevation 1049 suggests polyvocal reimaginings of the dynamics of energies.
Elevation 1049: Energies is conceived and produced by LUMA Foundation with guest curator Stefanie Hessler, Director of Swiss Institute New York.
The opening weekend included a performance by Theaster Gates and the Black Monks.
Group exhibition across two venues
The Station: Gstaadstrasse 2, 3792 Saanen / The Carpentry: Schlittmoosstrasse 1, 3778 Schönried
Opening times
Wednesday–Sunday: 11am–6pm (February 5–28, 2025) / Thursday–Sunday: 12–6pm (March 1–16, 2025)
Outdoor installations
Louisa Gagliardi, Electric Company, 2025 (BKW Tower, Gstaad) / Theaster Gates, The Duet, 2023 (Saanen / Rübeldorf).
Accessible all day, Monday–Sunday.
Free admission.
