Gianni Jetzer
Milky Way: A Layer of Snow..., 2014
Subfreezing temperatures, an ancient alpine hut under the snow in the middle of nowhere, a small dot in infinite whiteness... the group show The Milky Way is dedicated to the seclusion of alpine winter. Being an art exhibition that is difficult to access, it triggers the imagination of potential visitors. In sheer isolation the show is self-sufficient––isolated, thus real.
A Layer of Snow and a Layer of Silence
January 25 to March 8 2014
Eric Andersen, Hans Bellmer, Bruno Jakob, Ylva Ogland, Daniel de Roulet, Olympia Scarry, Andro Wekua
Organized by Gianni Jetzer
Blattistafel above Arnen Lake
Subfreezing temperatures, an ancient alpine hut in the middle of nowhere, a small dot in infinite whiteness, the group exhibition A Layer of Snow and a Layer of Silence is dedicated to the seclusion of alpine winter. Being an art show that is inaccessible, it triggers imagination.
A Layer of Snow and a Layer of Silence plays furthermore with the cliché of pure mountains, close to heaven and out of reach of the obliquity of human nature. The fiction is immediately annihilated by the proximity of Gstaad and its mundane clientele. Surprisingly the hut’s interior is tastefully renovated in modernist style. It is the snowed in hunting lodge of a famous collector.
The show echoes layers of the past, amplifies lost voices, and investigates secrets. The bolted door alludes to a nearby chalet, which played an important role in the life of Roman Polanski. The high mountains are countered by presumed innocence, seduction, and eventually detention. In between clean slate and blame game, canonization and damnation, the ethereal landscape bleaches out distinct perception.
The exhibition poster is hand printed by Eric Andersen as well as a map of the Milky Way. A vintage, hand-colored photograph entitled La Poupée by Hans Bellmer evocates broken dreams. A tear by Bruno Jakob on a Kleenex is pinned on the blanched façade of the hut, slowly sublimed by the weather. In a performance Ylva Ogland calls her twin Snöfrid (Peaceful Snow), who lives behind mirrors. Daniel de Roulet reads from his novel A Sunday in the Mountains. Olympia Scarry presents a work in Braille alphabet behind glass that thus remains undecipherable. Andro Wekua recalls the house he was born, now part of inaccessible territory on the Black Sea coast.
Special thanks to Friedrich Christian Flick, Maja Hoffmann, Barbara Gladstone, Miguel Abreu
The show is a contribution to Elevation1049, curated by Neville Wakefield and Olympia Scarry
Gianni Jetzer is a curator and critic based in New York. He has realized numerous exhibitions with artists in his positions as curator at Migros Museum in Zurich (1998–2001), Director of Kunsthalle St. Gallen (2001–2006), and Director of Swiss Institute in New York (2006–2013). Since 2012 he is the curator of Unlimited, Art Basel's pioneering exhibition platform for projects that transcend the limitations of a classical art-show. Together with Chris Sharp he will in 2014 curate a large scale show entitled "Le Mouvement – Performing the City" taking place in Biel/Bienne. As a critic Jetzer has written many contributions for catalogues, art magazines, and newspapers such as Parkett, Flash Art, Spike, or Kaleidoscope.