Presentation

12th Swiss Sculpture Exhibition Biel-Bienne 

The 12th edition of the Swiss Sculpture Exhibition in 2014 has continued the innovative spirit of the format by offering the most radical edition yet. True to its provocative legacy of 60 years, LE MOUVEMENT has challenge the very definition of public sculpture by creating no public sculpture at all. The 12th Swiss Sculpture Exhibition ESS-SPA in Biel/Bienne has been dedicated to performance in the urban space.
The edition of the Swiss Sculpture Exhibition in 2014 was organized by two curators: Gianni Jetzer (Switzerland, 1969, lives in New York) and Chris Sharp (USA, 1974, lives in Mexico City). Their concept emphasizes the body in movement, both physically and politically.
The exhibition was composed of three independent parts (Mouvement I-III), which have enriched and complemented one another. The first two parts have unfold within public space in the streets and squares of Biel/Bienne, while the third part was consisted of a more historical reflection at the city’s public art gallery, the Art Centre CentrePasquArt.
Mouvement I of the exhibition, Sculptures on the Move, has functionned like a question to which the following part has been less a response than a provocation in return. The question has been posed through the curatorial reconfiguration of a selection of sculptures from former editions of the Swiss Sculpture Exhibition. Taken off their pedestals and re-presented in unconventional / non- traditional ways, they have been accompanied by a handful of artistic interventions, which have remained for the duration of the entire exhibition.
Mouvement II, Performing the City, which has taken place in August 2014, has responded to the first part by transforming the very city of Biel/Bienne into a vivid and dynamic exhibition space. A dense network of public performances has addressed itself to a pedestrian audience, while the urban context has been transfigured by the artistic interventions into a space of engaged observation. The exhibition has focused on the interfaces between visual arts and society, the public and the private, the individual and the crowd, immobility and movement.
Mouvement III of this exhibition, The City Performed, has taken place from August to November 2014 in the art centre CentrePasquArt. This museum exhibition has expanded and complemented the theme of the first two parts. Public space has been questioned in the context of electronic media and new social networks (Occupy, etc).
Timetable / key dates:
Sculptures on the Move and symposium
July 4 and 5 2014 (The interventions remained visible in Biel/Bienne until the end of August 2014)
Performing the City
August 26 to 31, 2014

The City Performed
August 30 until November 2 2014, opening August 30 2014, 5pm at Kunsthaus CentrePasquArt