One of the best artists from Switzerland has to be Markus Raetz (Bern Switzerland 1941-2020). Language is one of three parameters in the art in his repertoir. In Geneva, the sculpture OUI NON amazes passers by if they dare to look up at the Place du Rhône! Read our article from 2020 at this link. Markus Raetz works on the real and unreal of the negative/positive and the perception and the deformation on shapes in a mirror or facing each other. He invites the viewer to interact, because many works by the artist reveal themselves only by the movement of the viewer in front of the sculpture.
As the Fondation Jan Michalski in Vaud is hosting a wonderful exhibition around Markus Raetz through 10 July this year, this is the time to visit this wonderful museum/library/architecture. A pair of entrance tickets is up for grabs in our competition (below).
Markus Raetz's works with sizing up words and letters, pushing them further, exploring their interconnections within several languages, and embodying them in eloquent visual forms – eloquent, too, in the etymological sense of “speaking out.” In this brilliant artist’s output, language is a singular source of inspiration as well as matter for an inventiveness that is bound up with both its translation into images and Raetz’s craftsmanship, the other two elements are at the core of his body of work.
Raetz’s reflection on words and language generally is both playful and systematic, deep and done with a twinkle in the artist’s eye, personal and implying the participation of others. As the viewer looks on, one and the same stationary object embodies a no and a yes; seen from the left and the right (see poster below), a little brass object collectively exclaims AHA; the ich (I) at the head of a body floating in space is transformed into a wir (we) at the other end. This message counts in the artist’s thinking. He emphasizes exchange and sharing. Time to fire up our imagination! “One’s own movement is important. I give the viewer responsibility – or free play, room to manoeuver. I want to give them certainty, like a fine instrument,” the artist once declared.
Through the sculptures, drawings, prints, and sketchbooks on display, the exhibition makes clear one of the forces at work in Raetz’s artmaking. That is, it shows what happens when words become forms and activate our perception. We are truly given to read and see plays on words, homophones, phrases whose terms make sense in two distinct languages, the unlikeliest forms of writing that are perfectly decipherable all the same, figurative illustrations that are literal, and virtuoso three-dimensional objects with surprising reversals of meaning. “There is no meaning without interpretation. If you don’t interpret, there is only a formless mass,” Raetz maintained, reinforcing our ability to discriminate.
In Geneva, the sculpture OUI NON amazes passers by if they dare to look up at the Place du Rhône! Read our article from 2020 at this link.
Fondation Jan Michalski is kindly offering one lucky knowitall.ch reader a pair of tickets for the exhibit to the Markus Raetz exhibit (a Fr. 16.- value). Just fill out this form and answer this question: What sculpture is situated at the Place du Rhône in Geneva?
Only one entry per email is allowed. The competition closes at midnight on Thursday, 31 March 2022. The names of all those submitting correct answers will be placed into the digital hat and the winner's name drawn at random on Friday, 1 April 2022. The winner will be notified by email. No cash equivalent of prizes is permitted.
Markus Raetz Exhibition
Le reflet des mots
From 18 March to 10 July 2022
Fondation Jan Michalski
En Bois Désert 10
Route de Chardève 2 (GPS)
1147 Montricher
https://fondation-janmichalski.com
Open: Tuesday to Friday, 14h-18h
Saturday and Sunday, 11h-18h
Admission*
CHF 8.- (full price)
CHF 5.- (students, retirees, unemployed, groups, disabled persons)
Free for children and teens under 18 and residents of Montricher.
*Free admission the first Sunday of each month.
About the Fondation Jan Michalski
Originally imagined as a small community sheltered beneath a canopy and completely surrounded by nature, an inspirational setting at the foot of the Jura Mountains in Switzerland, the Jan Michalski Foundation was created in 2004 by Vera Michalski-Hoffmann in her husband’s memory to perpetuate their common commitment to those who devote themselves to the written word.
The Foundation’s mission is to foster literary creation and encourage the practice of reading through a range of initiatives and activities. These include mounting exhibitions and cultural events that have a connection with writing and literature, making a large multilingual library available to the public, awarding an annual prize in world literature, granting financial support, and hosting a writer-in-residence program.
It offers a unique communal venue that is turned outward to the world at large: a place where writers, artists, and the public come together to keep culture alive and ideas flowing.
Mission
- To open a center that is open to the world
- To fight against the erosion of reading
- To foster literary creation
- To offer the chance to read, see, and hear the written word in all its forms
The architecture is worth the visit in itself. Read the article we wrote back in 2018 at this link.
#markusraetz #fondationjanmichalski
