Current thoughts on Swiss artists working in sculpture…

Curators' thoughts on sculpture being made in Europe today. By Alexa Jeanne Kusber

“I have been trying to eliminate references and make truly abstract sculpture, composing the parts of the pieces like notes in music. Just as a succession of these make up a melody or a sonata, so I take anonymous units and try to make them cohere in an open way into a sculptural whole. Like music, I would like my work to be the expression of feeling in terms of the material, and like music, I don’t want the entirety of the experience to be given all at once.” - Anthony Caro

I have been strongly influenced lately by the death of Anthony Caro and his continuing dialogue around working towards radical breaks with the traditions of monumental sculpture.

Working in Switzerland, I have become interested in artists whose work is pushing the medium forward, keeping it alive by experimenting with both the possibilities of materials and the capabilities of sculpture’s spatial connection with the viewer. Artists who are not only referencing the medium’s history, but also utilising the three-dimensional engagement with the viewer as a door into a personal history of the viewer or their subconscious, per se.

Through my current examination, these artists create a dialogue with the viewer through various entry points.  The work touches on a mixture of units such as our familiarization of basic shapes (to which we all are introduced at a young age) to everyday living materials (such as plants, crystals, water), fabrics and delicate materials that allow the fragility of sculpture to be exposed and even pushing our relational aesthetics journey deeper challenging perceptions of space and utilising sound.

These artists are pushing the limits of their chosen materials mentally, physically and commonly leaving a space for reflection from the viewer. I would like to suggest that this space is where an active remembrance of the memory remains connected to thinking in the now and continues an active thinking towards the future. The sculptures do not make it easy to be a passive spectator and in this practice, this ‘active thinking’ is flourishing. In the current milieu of momentum and spectacle, as a curator I find in revitalizing that sculptors are working to this capacity that continues to expand the medium, while bridging the gaps with the audience, which in turn creates a “sculptural whole”. An authentic collaboration with the artist and the audience through an object and space.

Curator’s selected artists whose work illustrates the described idea on sculpture:

Andrea Halser (Switzerland, 1975)
Tobias Madison (Switzerland, 1985)
Slyvie Fleury (Switzerland, 1961)
Zimoun (Switzerland, 1977)
Florian Graf (Switzerland, 1980)
Bureau A - Daniel Zamarbide (Switzerland, 1972) & Leopold Banchini (Switzerland, 1981)
Reto Pulfer (Switzerland, 1981)
Didier Rittener (Switzerland, 1969)

Alexa Jeanne Kusber
Born in USA. Currently working in Verbier, Switzerland

Alexa Jeanne Kusber is an American independent curator and writer who has spent the last seven years in London working on exhibition programmes throughout Europe. She has recently moved to Switzerland and appointed Curator/Director at the 3-D Foundation in Verbier, heading the Sculpture Park and Artist Residency. As an advocate of the sustainable curatorial method, she has been involved with various cultural schemes linking artists and the public throughout her career.
As Senior Curator/Project Manager at Arts Co in London, she organised exhibitions such as From Now To Eternity, Soundlife London, WASTED at the V&A, Warholesque and developed cultural education programmes such as The Art of Ideas II.

Alexa was part of the small team that developed The Museum of Everything in 2009, London’s first space for artists and creators living outside our modern society. She went on to manage a dynamic cultural programme for Ralph Lauren, much of which involved supporting young international artists throughout Europe.

Before moving to Switzerland, she had been working independently as curator and arts manager for artists developing exhibitions (such as Disappearing Moon and [re]locate, 2013) and collaboratively with organisations such as ACE, The British Council and Skylight Projects (she just returned from supporting Jeremy Deller at the UK Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale).

She has consulted for Chanel, Ralph Lauren, and Phillips de Pury and contributes to publications such as Critical Contemporary Culture, Kultureflash and INTRODUCING when inspiration takes her to the written word.
In her new role at the 3-D Foundation, Alexa has become motivated within the contemporary presence of sculpture and its connection to the vitalizing of active thinking with the audience.

If you would like to contact Alexa Jeanne Kusber, please write to info@sculpture-network.org