Guests
For the enlargement and for more photographs: click on the picture.
After the foundation of the “Fondazione Sciaredo” in 1996 the board pushed for the renovation of the “Casa Sciaredo”. With a modest budget of 400 000 francs and a lot of volunteerism the house built in 1932 underwent a soft renovation and finally became once again the bright yellow cube that it had once been, situated in its natural surroundings and a figurehead of modern architecture in the Ticino.
In the last 14 years, more than a hundred artists have spent time in the house, often for several months. It is not surprising that the nature of the house in a broad sense influenced a lot of the works created on the spot. For many residents however, the stay was also a time of retreat, reflection, and of letting-go to make room for new ideas.
The first guests in 2000 were the Zurich artist Martin Senn and his then partner Dominique Lieb. They lived in the house 39 weeks (a bit more than 9 months), and almost symbolically their daughter Gwendolin was born during this period.
«The frozen snow lay on the front lawn of the newly renovated house” wrote M. S. in the Barbengo diary, “like a big screen. With the in-house barrow we pushed our stuff up the winding forest path. The large cube shined ochre-red in the warm evening light ... the first night was cloudless; through the large windows the stars seemed to bid and welcome us in the solar system.»
They are followed in the winter 2000/2001 by Georg Rutishauser and Annushka Pfammatter, who are then followed by Corinna Rüegg and Mike Frei from 3 March to 24 June 2001.
Two artist-friends, Doris Naef and Veronika Bischoff, from Ostschweiz, lived in Barbengo in the summer of 2001 (2.7. to 13.10.)
After them Scott Woodward Meyers lived in the lonely house on the hill for almost half a year (October 2001 to spring 2002). The stay imprinted itself so much in his psyche that he returned from December 2008 to March 2009 for a second stay on the Collina d'Oro.
Then, from April to August 2002 the Casa became a studio, think tank and the home of Christina Hemauer (b. 1973) and Philip Zimmermann. Today Christina Hemauer operates mainly at the intersection of art and ecology, something for which she might have been inspired by the Sciaredo spirit.
Katharina Rähmi dwelled in the Casa Sciaredo for a period of 40 weeks from August 2002-May 2003. Rähmi gave the place and the stay a visual face through her beautiful booklet with photographic "impressions" printed on precious natural fiber paper. This retreat into a joyful loneliness made her come a second time: from October 2005 to April 2006.
Cornelia Cottiati and Sally McCullogh used the house from June to August 2003 as their temporary location in Switzerland during a sojourn in New York lasting several years. According to the statutes of the foundation, Sciaredo is mainly an atelier for visual artists. But especially in the canton of Ticino, Sciaredo is considered as an architectural jewel. So it is self-evident that architects should also be able to sketch new ideas here. The first to do so were Bernese architects Jutta und Beat Strasser, who stayed here from September 2003 to April 2004.
One of the recurring guests is the Zurich sculptor Severin Müller and his partner, the architect, Patrizia Guagliardi. On their first stay, they dwell in Sciaredo from April to August 2004, but they come back in June / July 2008, now a family of three with their young daughter.
From August to October 2004 and again from May to July 2005 the Casa Sciaredo was occupied by the Swiss-Dutch artist duo Sabine Mooibroek and Erwin Nyboer.
They are followed from October 2004 to January 2005 by the Winterthur-based artist Duri Galler, known for his subversive and humorous woodcuts and linocuts. His stay - unfortunately a rare exception - is funded by the City of Winterthur as a studio scholarship.
The artist Christine Götti from Birsfelden traveled to Ticino in January 2005 and by March of the same year created an important number of new works.
Two well-known names from Switzerland’s cultural scene appeared on the guest list in April 2005: the photo-artist Thomas Flechtner, known for lonely landscapes among his other subjects, and the journalist Daniele Muscionico, known for brilliant cultural reviews.
Also in 2005, the Zurich conceptual artist, designer and curator Markus Schaub and the architect Andrea Rummel worked in the studio house of Georgette Klein. It was certainly a memorable stay for them because in 2007 they came back to Barbengo (July to September).
The dominance of the visual arts is broken in the fall of 2005 when the Zurich writer Werner Wiedenmeier arrived to Sciaredo. Despite the fact, that Sabine Mooibroek had just made a video on his determination not to write anymore in the future...
In the spring of 2006 Franziska Ripphausen-Loderer (Seewen) further developed her practice, combining graphic and painted work, as she integrated elements of writing and literature as a second level.
During their time at the house the guests all created autonomous artistic works. Most of them are more or less known on a national or even international level. However, an art career is not for all of them of equal importance. That makes sense especially in the context of Georgette Klein’s practice, who created almost exclusively for her own aims. This means that the foundation does not court the most prominent artists to reside in the house, but attempts to give space to those who know how to use the time spent in Sciaredo as enrichment for their work, regardless if they are young, middle-aged, or already of the older generation. Nevertheless, it is gratifying that well-known exponents of the Swiss art scene sometimes work with Sciaredo and its treasured history.
In the summer of 2006, the famous Swiss performance artist Heinrich Lüber lived at Sciaredo for three months, and looked back on the past, while looking forward to new projects.
After a short visit of 2 weeks by the eastern Swiss sculptor Spallo Kolb, the Basel-based artist and curator Martin Siegwolf pitched his tent for 10 weeks in Barbengo.
Then once again architecture took center stage.
In winter 2006/2007 Irene Erni and Christofer Lüke, both architects from Lucerne, installed themselves at this location for 3 months.
They are followed in April / May 2007 by the Zurich-based photographer and author Christian Scholz. For him, the stay became an experience because among other reasons, he found a farmer who allowed him to take pictures of animals - such as cows - from very close up so that a zoom was not necessary!
Sometimes Sciaredo is a kind of refuge - a self-contained house-cube that stands bright and yellow within the natural landscape, and through its essence offers the guest courage to leave the past behind and look to the future.
During her stay in Barbengo in spring-summer, the graphic and installation artist Romana del Negro from Biel/Bienne transformed the living room into a studio and exhibition space. A thunderstorm had bent numerous branches and small trees in the garden and in the nearby forest. Del Negro took them and hung them upside down, the roots stretching to the ceiling and then stitched the "lines" with needles and threads.
After a three-week interlude with the Zurich painter and lecturer Pierre Thomé, the painter Philippe Mahler (living in Kreuzlingen/TG) and his wife Ines Mahler Garces stayed in Sciaredo with their daughter.
The Zurich sculptor and multimedia artist Ursula Hirsch used a short-term gap in occupancy in the winter of 2008 for a 6-week time-out, during which she made Sciaredo itself the topic of her work: the light, the shadows, the fog, the snow, the sun, the rooms, the house, the forest, the church, the mountains, etc ....
Brigitte Stadler is an active member of the Sciaredo Association and therefore has been familiar for many years with everything concerning the house and especially the garden. In February / March 2008 however the house "belonged" to her alone. The artist took the opportunity to develop new paper-cuts for her own work connected to nature.
Only a short time later the Aargau artist Peter Fischer and his partner resided in Barbengo.
He is followed by the Zurich artist duo Simone Eberli and Andrea Mantel. The two artists are among the few young artist-mothers who involve their children in all kinds of artistic projects, either visually and/or conceptually, such as, for instance, the juxtaposition of generations.
In addition to Severin Müller and Patrizia Guagliardi (see 2004), the couple Alice und Bruno Arn from Münchenbuchsee stayed at Sciaredo from the beginning of October until the end of December 2008. The stay became for them an important part of their lives, so they applied again in 2010 for a 13-week stay and in 2013 for a two month-residency.
Scott Woodward Meyers once again visited Sciaredo. The second time he spent the first months of 2009 (see 2001/2002) in the winter solitude of Ticino.
In May 2009, Petra Elena Köhle and her partner Nicola Vermot Petit-Outhenin resided in the house and dealt with their projects in the fields of film and theater.
In June / July of the same year it became lively on the hill as the curator Mara Züst, her two children and the landscape architect André Rey spend nine weeks at the Casa Sciaredo.
The painter and drawing teacher Otto Grimm experienced the eight weeks of his residence in Barbengo as a long-awaited time-off: "Finally really breathe!" and "For me it was a magic time."
The artist and teacher Esther Verena Schmid and her partner Manuel Franco Rüetschi spent not less than 26 weeks in the bright rooms of the house.
Every year around Easter the house belongs to the Sciaredo Association, a small, loose group of artists and architects centred around the painter Thomas Rutherford from Winterthur. However, the two weeks they spend there are not simply holidays - the members do a lot of small maintenance work on the house according to their obligations within the foundation.
For the period of April 10th to May 15th 2010 the Zurich designer Agnès Laube transfered her residence to Barbengo.
The Zurich painter Syl Bamert follows her in May / June 2010.
The Geneva-based American artist Elisabeth Burch is on a brief visit at Sciaredo, but the artist likes it so much that she wants to return as soon as possible.
After Hans Diethelm and Brigitte Müller, the painter Regula Michell and Markus Kenner followed in August 2010.
Once again an architect liveed in the house from August - September 2010. This time it was the Lucerne-based businessman Fabian Thadeus, his partner Mengia Dosch and their little son.
Alice und Bruno Arn work in the house again in late 2010. (see 2008).
The beginning of 2011 welcomed André and Cornelia Wilhelm from Wald, canton Zurich. Their practice is centred on painting and film. Unfortunately it comes to certain turbulences with the management, so that the successful story of the residents in Barbengo only continues in spring 2011.
After the members of the Sciaredo Association spent their 2-week retreat at the house in April 2011, Christine Götti, an artist from Arlesheim, returned to Barbengo to realize a series of linocuts on the canon "Dona nobis pacem” inspired by the morning "bird-concerts".
She was followed by the Zurich body-movement pedagogue and artist Syl Bamert and her partner Ulrich Bachmann who occupied the space from July to late September. Bachmann is the founder and manager of the research project FarbLichtLabor of the Zurich University of Art and Design.
The many months spent here by the Zurich photographer Peter Lüem (partly accompanied by his partner Nadja Athanasiou, and of course their dog Zipo) resembled a change of residence for the trio. They stayed in the studio building between October 2011 and March 2012 and experienced a winter with above-average sun and warmth. Lüem said of himself: "I'm a collector," referring to the variety of topics and projects he “interactively” promotes and that he connects with the realities of the place and the quality of time. He was greatly affected by the "spirit" of Georgette Klein and the architecture of the “Bauhaus” in Sciaredo.
As mentioned before, the time around Easter traditionally belongs to the "Sciaredo Association" for its yearly retreat. The Winterthur group of artists comes here to do some upkeep of the park-like garden around the house (see chapter "garden"), originally installed by Georgette Klein, and do small jobs in and around the house.
By mid-April 2012, the German artist Petra Paffenholz filled the interior and exterior spaces of the house with her sensitive spirit for places and nature. Although natural forms and proportions plays an important role in her drawings and her sculptural work, life for this urban artist (originally from Cologne) in the studio house, which is entirely surrounded by nature, was a real challenge. All the more as a stay here without a car provides additional difficulties in this rather isolated locale with bad public transportation system. Mischa and Cylia Gerster, full-time residents in Barbengo and the "good spirits" of the house, once again offered their "good services" by helping the artist during her stay. So that she could engage herself intensively in the specificity of the location and its extraordinary energy. The collected flower seeds that will (hopefully) revive a part of Sciaredo in Cologne in the truest sense of the word.
In May 2012, the Norwegian painter Italo Moro travelled to Barbengo and made Sciaredo his studio. As his name suggests, he has Italian roots, which gave the artist the idea to explore these roots again in southern Switzerland through his surreal and expressive style of painting.
On the 9th of June of the same year the Sciaredo Association held the first Sciaredo Aperitif. Therefore, the house was inhabited for a week by the members of the foundation’s board. The preparations for the event started out badly, with extremely wet and cold weather and a rock fall at the Gotthard that made a journey from north to south almost impossible. However, just before the beginning of the reception the sun came out and warmed the atmosphere at lightning speed, so despite all the previous omens, the surprisingly numerous guests experienced a wonderful afternoon in Georgette Klein's "Empire". Artworks from the estate, opened documents, photographs from the PC, a short lecture on the life and work of GEO offered the gathering content and substance. On this occasion the local authorities announced that the house was now officially included in the list of heritage buildings in Ticino.
Because of an unexpected gap in the occupancy of the house until the arrival of the Eastern Swiss artist Doris Naef, Brigitte Stadler of the "Sciaredo Association" grabbed this short-term opportunity and combined the garden maintenance (much needed after a violent thunder and hail storm) with her own artistic plans. "Radici" is the name of the paper-cut series that the Winterthur artist was working on in this period. On view are "aerial roots" in fine watercolours that seem to bring to light what is above and under the earth, like a living river always newly networked within and outside of men.
The Swiss artist Doris Naef spent five summer weeks (from 16 June onwards) in Barbengo. She had already spent time in the house in 2001 and now was here to refresh her memories and add new impressions.
The Zurich artist Georgette Maag stayed in Barbengo until 9 September 2012. "The house is so inspiring", she wrote in an email. She too, lives without a car, but in her case this is a conscious decision. And it leads Georgette Klein’s namesake to the astonishing ability to almost intuitively find paths through the Ticino mountains and valleys that were used by previous generations, while cars must drive along winding roads or even have to approach their destination from the back of a mountain.... Maybe this intuitive hiking has something to do with her art, which focuses very much on observation. The artistic result of her stay is the video " Venti periodici ", which shows the artist as a shadow silhouette on the roof terrace. Needless to say, there is only a short amount of time during the day when the shadow can be shot at the exactly desired dimensions and the wind does not blow on demand for the dress of the shadow figure to move in the wind.....
The year moves on. In September 2012, the Zurich-based communication designer Regula Ehrliholzer stayed in Barbengo. The trained geographer operates the Zurich office dr/eh GmbH together with Marc Droz, which has the visualization of complex contents on its flag.
She was followed in October - not for the first time – by the Zurich-based artist Ursula Hirsch, who worked on the production of four publications featuring aspects of her creative work as a sculptor, wall painter and interior designer.
Until the 4th December 2012 Sciaredo was the "kingdom" of the architectural photographer and graphic designer Nina Baisch from Konstanz. As she writes to the board, in this late autumn she got to know and appreciate many new facets of the Ticino. Unfortunately she did not realize as many of the planned architectural projects as she would have liked (for example for the “Ticino association for the protection of the patrimony”), but she was "enchanted” by a free photo-shooting in and around the Villa Fogazzaro Roi in Orio (part of the FAI, the Italian association for the protection of the patrimony) on the Italian side of Lake Lugano.
In the fall of 2012 some conceptual artists and designers tested the Sciaredo "Spirit". With the Zurich Oberland artist André Wilhelm a contrast program was given at the end of the year. The painter and collage-artist makes some rather anarchistic statements through his fairly raw and expressive works that refer to political and social issues. Unfortunately his artistic position was also seen in the house after his departure....
The second half of January 2013 did not belong to the artists, but to the foundation. On the initiative of Brigitte Stadler a breach to the south was beaten in the closed ring of the forest around the house. Since the death of Georgette Klein (1963), the forest grew and grew.... Now some “light” and “view” was to come back! Thanks to the knowledge and work of Stefano Rickenbacher and numerous assistants, Sciaredo is now reconnected with Italy!
The initially massive wounds in the surroundings experienced in the first weeks afterwards Reto Gadola, a Zurich based architect and lecturer in design at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.
The unexpected gap in the rental of the house for the months of February / March 2013 was used by the couple Alice und Bruno Arn from Münchenbuchsee who already had experience with Sciaredo. Both arrived with specific projects in their back-pack that advanced well in the friendly atmosphere of the wintry seclusion of Ticino.
As before, the Easter season brings the "Sciaredo association" to the house. The time is used for maintenance work and bringing the garden into shape. With the aftermath of the rough wood cut of January 2013, the tasks were given a priori.
At the beginning of April, the Foundation once again set a goal for itself. On April 13th, the second Sciaredo Aperitif took place, with the most beautiful early summer weather! The focus was on the one hand the performance-like signing of the contract with the "Assoziazione Riuniti delle Donne Ticino" that thereafter preserves the written estate of Georgette Klein, and on the other hand, the performance of a one-act puppet play by Elisabetha Bleisch and her partner Fritz Schemmer. A great success!
As of mid-April 2013 Sciaredo was again in the hands of artists. The artist Stefanie Anrig, resident of Heidelberg, lives in Barbengo until late May. Even if the long-lasting, heavy rains limited the scope of the artist’s activities, the atmosphere pushed the painter toward intensive work. The colors and shapes of the natural landscape permeated the abstract painting style of the artist and condensed into paintings of intense expression.
From July to September, the couple Res and Regula Eichenberger from Schaffhausen were the guests in the Casa Sciaredo. In a short report that they left for the association they speak of the experience at the house as a "time-out" used extensively for various activities. Various colors and shapes from the house’s environment make their way through airbrushed works on paper, but also in staged photographs. Music from the newly tuned piano sounded through the house - as once in the times of Georgette Tentori Klein - and the garden flourished.
Because there is no better place to think about the artistic work of Georgette Tentori Klein than onsite, Foundation President Annelise Zwez went to Sciaredo at the end of September / beginning of October to prepare her text for the planned publication on the life and work of the artist.
She was followed on the 7th of October by the scenographer and installation artist Karin Bucher from Trogen (AR) and her partner who is active in the field of film, for a short stay of two weeks.
During the whole winter 2013/2014 the artist couple Daniela Villiger/Andrea Köfer from Rapperswil dislocated ther "minimuseumvigano" to Sciaredo.
At the beginning of May the house was in the hands of the Foundation itself - works had to be done in house and garden!
After them a personal touch was given by Sibylle Schaerer, a designer in the field of space and colour. Her aim: Leave behind what has been and open the mind for new ideas.
With a very clear artistic vision came the Geneva based artist Thierry Feuz (born 1968 in Vienna) to Sciaredo (May 25th to 15th of June) : He wanted an answer to the question how nature could directly be integrated in his painting. He found it by using grass and other herbs as long and wild brushes - very colourful abstract paintings arised from the experiment, executed directly in the garden in front of the house. The artist was satisfied with the result, knowing however that this is only the starting point for an ongoing artistic process.
From June 16th to July 27th Sciardo became - inside and outside - the "atelier" of Stefanie Anrig, who had already been in Barbengo in 2013. "Wenn I travel in a big city", says the artist, "I need days, perhaps even weeks, until I find to my painting; in Sciaredo however, I unwarp all my utensils and just start". Colours and forms of the surroundings develop on her canvas to "tableaux" full of light and with a disctinct accent on bright colour.
A new artistic discipline was initated in the end of July/beginning of August 2014. Four young men of the gymnasium of Lugano - Luca Sassoli, Gioele Sala, Olivier Mucchiut and Alan Gerster - son of the couple in charge of Sciaredo since a long time - made a film in the house. They had enroled for a competition for short films. The topic was "shooting" and so they deciced to make a photo shooting and present it as a series of "shots". The film can be seen on Youtube.
With Erika Kunzmann (born 1930) a more slow and meditativ life came back to Sciaredo. "It was a precious time", she wrote to the foundation. But also: "A few wonderful sunny days compensated the long wet and rainy period, we had".... Erika Kunzmann is a painter, but also a graphic artist, based in Berne. She works above all with water colours on the one hand and pencils or lithographic chalk on the other hand. And the topic through her different styles from naturalistic to informal is nature - a single branche or fruit as well as a garden view as well as transformations into waves of colour. So it is easy to understand that Sciaredo was an almost ideal place to work for her.
From September onwards, there was no day without "Schwyzer Örgeli" music (the Schwyzer Örgeli is a small, tipically Swiss accordion). To fill rooms with sound is for Eveline Imamoglu (living in Uster/Zurich) part of every days life. As an artist she is however a multi-talent - expressing herself since the early 1970ies in Performance, Installation, Painting, Objects, Audio-Works, Texts, Photography and more....in Barbengo she worked on a specific, digital audio-work on the one hand, brush-drawings with fragments of nature in a never ending dance and combined with short poetic texts.
She was followed in december by Hans Bisegger, an experienced architect and designer in different fields with a life long engagement for culture inthe area he is living - will say the capital of the "Kanton Thurgau", which is Frauenfeld. As he works a lot on the protection of old, significant houses, he dealt with the architecture of the Sciaredo house and the problems of its actual state (on behalf of energy for instance).
The week after the president of the foundation made her personal test of living in Sciaredo during winter (no problem) and accompanied the installation of the new fire-system on the one hand and the installation of a supplementary radiator in the atelier, so that living in Sciardo in winter becomes more comfortable. At the same time she continued to write an inventory of the bibliotheque of Georgette Klein. The state of some for her important books has become fragile, so that it might be important to give those books to the AARDT Archive, that already looks for the legacy of all her works on paper.
Just before Christmas 2014, Peter Lüem arrived in Sciardo, not for a few weeks, but a few months (till march 25th 2015), just as the foundation statutes suggest it. Sciardo should not be a place for holidays, but for a residency with long lasting effect! Walter Lüem, living as a photographer in the urban area of Zurich, enjoyed for the second time (after 2011/2012) the possibility of working at the computer inside and as a sculptor outside in one and the same day. As the upper parts of two old trembling poplars had fallen down during a storm, there was plenty of wood right next to the house. And so parts of the garden transfered during his stay in a working area (look the photograph on top or in the project chapter "Peter Lüem").
As one of the old (original) water tubes from 1932 caused a water damage in march 2015 and had to be completely renewed, the maintenance week of the foundation before easter became a week with craftsmen coming an going!!
From April to July 2015 Bubikon (Zurich) based multimedia artist Walter Lüönd became resident in Sciaredo. During this time he developped two exciting projects in connection with the house and its surroundings. On the one hand he reactivated the the "sleeping" Grotto down in the woods where the water seeks its way to the lake of Lugano. He discovered a little sign on the top of the front wall: "Mon rêve" (my dream). Georgette Klein had painted it in 1931 when she made her plans for the Sciaredo-house together with Luigi Tentori. He made it to his dream, cut the house out of the exuberantly growing nature, cleaned the main room and transformed it into an installation with the titel "Beware of the Wolf". On the other hand he transformed an old wood cut block, found in the house, into a plate with an QR-Code, printed it and made a flag of it. Thus two completely different picture-languages got into a dialogue.
With lots of ideas and plans Mathis Füssler arrived in Barbengo at the beginning of July. Fässler is an Zurich based graphist, exhibition designer, musician and professor at the Institute for Architecture in Basel. His aim was to bundle ideas on future projects and to go on with the visual concept for next year's exhibition about the scientist Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) at the National Museum in Zurich. And last but not least he realised a workshop with his students on the topic of architecture in the special surroundings, such as the Casa Sciaredo in Barbengo (until 1st August).
Nowhere, says the Zurich and Heidelberg based artist Stefanie Anrig, she would feel so well in such a short time as in Sciaredo. That is why it was a great wish of her to come back with lots of white canvas, hoping to take them back with lots of new paintings, inspired by the colours and the specific forms between architecture, furniture, objects on the one hand and the power of growing nature on the other hand. "it is so marvellous here", she writes in a email. Among the discoveries of this year was the Grotto, in which's sourroundings she made a number of photographs (2nd of August to 5th of September 2015).
"If ever I have the opportunity to stay in the Casa Sciaredo, I will sew new cloths for it". It is Sabine Eichenberger – creative in different fields of designing – who said this on the occasion of her first visit in Sciaredo in 2014. A year later (6th of September to 10th of October 2015) she arrived with her sewing-machine and started sewing new and personally designed curtains – thick and dark ones for winter to prevent the cold to come in through the original (not isolated) windows, bright and light ones for the summer.
The following week (10th to 18th October) stood under the flag of the Grotto, that had in some way been "rediscovered" in spring 2015. Annelise Zwez and the artist Daniela da Maddalena from Biel/Bienne cleaned the lower part oft he 1854 constructed house from dust, soil, broken pieces of glass, rusty metal etc. in order to make it usable.... for an artistic installation for instance. And of course, the artist had immediately an idea. With left things – an old metal bed-frame for instance – old cloths, a petrol lamp and more – she created a place for a refugee from Syria as it is described in an old arabian legend.
The 18th of october the bar was given over to the filmer Romeo Grünfelder and his partner, the sculptor and photographer Sonja Vordermaier from Hamburg. With them was also the 5 year old daughter Fernanda. They regard residences in different ateliers in different countries as important and inspiring for their artistic work. However, residences for families are rare. So the fact that Sciaredo is suitable for small families gave them the idea to travel all down to the Ticino to stay in Sciaredo.
The Kick-Off to 2016 made two women from Bern: Margareta Kümin und Elisabeth Bissig. For a long time already, art work accompanies them in parallel to their main professions. They used the short sabbatical (3rd to 16th of January) to plunge into this artistic passion. It was with intention, that they transported only few materials (ink, paper, fabric, thread) with them to Sciaredo. They wanted to work with what they would find on the spot. Inspired from the surroundings they realised an important series of consciously modest drawings und embroideries.
The arrival of the next artists in residence had to be delayed for personal reasons. So Nicole König and Wolfgang Thies from Berlin worked from the 31th of January to the 28th February on their film project.
In the first weeks of March the house could not host any guests, because the beginning of the renovation of the facades, the terraces and the water-household of the building with a lot of noise, dust and so on was on the schedule. During the most intensive time of deconstruction it would not have been possible to concentrate on an artistic work. The 16th of March Annelise Zwez arrived and followed the in the coming week the work of the plumber and especially of Giovanni Gilgen, the expert for facades painted with mineral pigments.
Nevertheless the Zurich based artist Myrtha Steiner, who will be elected as a member of the board in September 2016, came for her first visit. The weather showed itself from its best and she was all the more convinced, that her future engagement will be a good thing. Also the Solothurn based artist Fränzi Neuhaus was not scared by the construction works and came for a two-day-stay to Sciaredo – in spring there are never to many hands for all the work in the garden, that has to be done.
The Easter days are traditionally the period where the members of the Association Sciaredo stay in the Casa Sciaredo. Roland Gut, member of the board, his wife Brigitte Stadler, artist and expert in gardening, the painter Therese Wey from Winterthur and others, including children, enjoyed the combination of residence and work in the house and its surroundings. Among other acitivites Stadler prepared the areas for two fields of mallows.
The 3rd of April arrived Bruno Büchel in Barbengo. The artist from St. Gallen, living in Bielefeld, had booked his stay before the schedule for the renovation was known and so he had to adapt himself with the given situation of a construction site. He did it with a lot of humour, tolerance and interest. Already the first drawings and paintings the house and the scaffold became a topic, which he turned during his stay on the spot into different visual forms in different media. Also the landscape with the vignards just around the house became a topic. What he interested him was to point out the lines that give form and character. To be seen above all in the works on glass. At the end of his stay he packs quite an important oeuvre in his car to go back to Germany.
The 1st of May is the arrival day of the Zurich based architect Silva Ruoss and her partner Werner Gysin.
After Whitsun the Mixed-Media-Artist Thierry Feuz (Geneva) arrives in Barbengo. Already the time he spent on the hill in 2014 was a very inspiring one. How, so he asked himself at the time, can I integrate nature directly into my paintings? - Grass used as pattern for the first colour-layer (applied with aerosol cans) was the answer then. This spur he followed also this year, in the new works an paper however in fragments and in a rich exchange with cut-outs from fractal patternprints, sections in aquarell-painting, elements with drawing character and so on. The combination of the different visualisations would be very important for him, he points out. The method would define a nature-near, yet artificial - maybe "magic" - atmosphere of the pictures.
From the 12th of June to the 2nd of July the tenant of the house is Michael Hanak (*1968). He is a publicist on architecture, based in Zurich. His aim were a few weeks off from every day life to continue the work for the book on the architect Jacques Schader (1917-2007), that he is writing actually. „After an extensive research of the bequest with plans and documents on all his projects, I wanted to write a greater text on his work on the whole and also his biography.“ Unfortunately the still ongoing renovations oft he house, did not give him sufficient calm, so that he thinks of his stay with ambivalent feelings.
Finally: The 11th of July the scaffolding is taken off and gives the view on the old/new yellow Cube.
In the following weeks (3rd of July to 13th of August) the Artist in Residence is the Swiss multimedia-artist Andreas Hofer (*1956) and his wife, Irene Brühweiler, who works in the field of textile design. Inspired by the dialogue of architecture and nature, the inside and outside, the wild and the clear proportions, Andreas Hofer does not even unpack what he brought for working in Sciaredo. From the first day onwards it is drawing that suddenly fascinates him and keeps him busy throughout the time of his stay, so that he counts in the end of the month an astonishing number of black and white drawings that he combines to a huge installation. For a change he takes a wooden sculpture of Georgette Klein that is like a masque and "performs" with it in different angels of the garden, photographed by his own camera.
In the weeks to come the renovation of the Casa Sciaredo makes it unfortunately impossible for the Zurich based artist and professor Matthias Füssler to realise the workshop he had planned with his students. So the program with each other following artists in residence can only go on in September.
A highlight is however the 3rd of September when the Sciaredo Apéro 2016 takes place. Beautiful weather (hot even) and a lot of guests who come to see the “new” Casa Sciaredo.
On September 5th arrive Franziska and Wolfgang Ripphausen-Loderer from Seewen (SZ) in Barbengo. Whereas the former engineer works as “housekeeper” (in and around the house), the artist Franziska Ripphausen takes possession of the atelier. spreads out the materials to complete unfinished projects and to develop new ideas in different medias.
They are followed (2nd October to 10th December) by Alice and Bruno Arn from Münchenbuchsee (BE). It is already the 4th time they spend time in their “castle”.”For us”, they say, “Sciaredo is the most charming place in the world for creative recreation”. Although close to their 70ties birthday, they cope with the challenge of the lonely house on a hill, where cars are not allowed, without problems. Alice Arn comes with ideas she wants to realise – the objects and paintings should be huge, playful, spontaneous. And they will! Meanwhile the former architect Bruno Arn rereads the biography of Georgette Klein and Luigi Tentori and their “castle” and transforms his impressions in drawings that he combines in the end to a wonderful multipartite leporello.
After a week with work inside and outside the house by the foundations president, Annelise Zwez, the Zurich based performance artist and Professor at the High School of Arts (ZHdK) Heinrich Lüber arrives with his wife and the two children. He spends Christmas time and New Year in Sciaredo (until 7th of January).
In January the house belongs once more to Giovanni Gilgen who renovates the walls from the inside and finishes some other work that remained from the great renovation during 2016.
Translation: Annelise Zwez/Olga Stefan
