Salon Suisse

ATARAXIA Salon Suisse 2017 Salon One Salon Two Salon Three Salon Four euphony eating well cultivating well kinesis a a a a ArtSpeaksForItself (ASFI) An Evening of Edible Unfinished Business Glossolalia in C: Lunch Performance Knowledge Roger M. Buergel, Patricia A microtonal, multi-language, (by invitation) Sandra Knecht and Purtschert, Felwine Sarr experimental music and poetry Wednesday, 10 May Maurice Maggi and Koyo Kouoh performance 12:45pm Thursday, 31 August Thursday, 19 October Khyam Allami and 6:30pm 6:30pm Naim Al Asmar b Thursday, 23 November Volkskulturfest Obwald b b 6:30pm Martin Hess and Friendship and Paranoid Carbon Derivatives Samuel Leuenberger Regionalism FRAUD (FRan Gallardo + b Thursday, 11 May Reza Afisina, Zoe Butt, AUDrey Samson) and Without Poetry Nothing 6:30pm farid rakun and David Teh Guido Rudolphi is Possible Friday, 1 September Friday, 20 October Marcos Lutyens and c 6:30pm 6:30pm Megan Rooney Music for Chameleons Friday, 24 November Pádraic E. Moore c c 6:30pm (by invitation) The Art of Confession – The Wretched Earth Friday, 12 May giving, creating, maintaining, Ros Gray, Shela Sheikh c 10pm provoking Time and Åsa Sonjasdotter The Primary Fondue Party Reza Afisina, Zoe Butt, Saturday, 21 October Claudia Comte farid rakun and David Teh 6:30pm Saturday, 25 November Saturday, 2 September 7:30pm 6:30pm (due to a limited capacity, booking is required for this event. To reserve a place please email [email protected]) ATARAXIA Koyo Kouoh a gig in four parts

As a word Ataraxia is equivocal, but never neutral. From the ATARAXIA seeks to probe Switzerland’s histories through inter- Greek a – ‘not’ and tarássein – ‘to disturb’, twist it further and it connected points of enquiry and mapping techniques: might spits back apathy. a critical consideration of neutrality dovetail with geographic centres in Africa, and thus challenge our understandings of dias- This year’s Salon Suisse aims at unpicking Switzerland’s so- pora or colonial involvement? ATARAXIA largely originated called political ‘neutrality’ within a global fabric of economics, from Roland Barthes’s collection of essays, Mythologies (1957). culture, technology and science. Ideations of a neutral Switzer- Barthes’s merging of semiotic analysis and cultural criticism, land pivot on welfare acquired through democracy, transparency, particularly his term ‘mythologisation’ gains purchase here. hospitality and conflict resolution, with the idiom ‘Switzerland Through a sequence of evenings comprising dialogue, cooking, is a country without problems’ doing much to reify an image of eating, listening and sounding – can we raise the stakes of the country as the land of economic security and cultural fe- ATARAXIA’s genteel state? Rather than give credence to isola- cundity. With 950 museums and significant ethnographic collec- tionist tactics, can we tease out generative strategies from tions, Switzerland is thought to have the largest concentration these collective and open-ended formats? of cultural institutions and galleries in the world. But for all its What happens when a programme operating under the aus- cultural capital, Switzerland has by and large side-stepped con- pices of the Swiss Arts Council takes flight and lands in Venice frontation on the subject of its modernist and colonial histories, – a city with a double image. The Venice of the Biennale, re coming through major geopolitical conflicts of the twentieth ceiving on average 3,000 visitors per day, or the Venice home century relatively unscathed. to a vanishing population of some 55,000 inhabitants: a city Against a backdrop of Eurosceptic, right-wing political move- caught between ecology and economy. How might a programme ments on the rise in countries across Europe, the statecraft reflect this shift from Switzerland to Venice, or as Switzerland of Switzerland is coming under increasing political and moral in Venice? As a question for all of us: how do we act as parts scrutiny. The image Switzerland projects globally is that of within a larger whole? (A ‘whole’ could constitute the biennale an independent sovereign powerhouse boasting high living stan- just as it could Europe.) How cultural institutions of Switzerland dards fueled by a green economy, yet its truer image is intrin reflect on their complex inheritance is key to moving forward sically linked to its bordering European neighbours and their responsibly: futures must be brokered by acknowledging and involvement in colonial histories past and present. learning from the powerful and affective narratives that con- Switzerland’s relationship to colonialism is complex and its nect bodies across histories and continents, and we should be complicity remains integral to sustained postcolonial investiga- careful to not deflect those which cause discomfiture. tion. The concept of neutrality edges around colonial practices To close with the words of scholar and civil rights activist and forms the basis of our understanding of the ‘outsider’ and W.E.B. Du Bois 1, the rights to ascription and the de-naming of the ‘foreign’ – and indeed, the concept of borders more broadly. ‘problem’ is synonymous with agency and top-down power relations. What is needed then, is a new set of relations and resonances, understanding that ‘they’ or ‘them’ smack of ex- ceptionalism: only then can we foster a language which com- municates our commonalities along with our differences. We are quick to exclaim words like ‘compassion’ and ‘empathy’ to ratify our political or social engagements, but all too often the en actment of that gesture becomes a proxy for meaningful action. ATARAXIA aims to rattle and awaken the dormancy of our body’s dwindling energies, recognising that ‘neutrality’ might better diagnose a certain condition of apathy. ATARAXIA aims to galvanise us into action through generative and spirited forms of response – in this we celebrate the diversity of our collective experiences as global citizens.

1 ‘Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compas- sionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.’ W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co.; [Cambridge]: University Press John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A., 1903). Salon One

10 – 12 May 2017 euphony

In celebration of the Biennale’s zone with Music for Chame- opening week, ATARAXIA plac- leons – a project mining the es euphony at the heart of its transgressive undertones programme with a full range of of club and music cultures, par- sonic sensibilities: conversa- ticularly pioneering genres tion, vaudeville, folk, disco and like Hi-NRG. With Music for electronica. Arnaud Cohen’s Chameleons, Moore opens up performative lunch draws from possibilities for us to re-inhabit strategies of comedic absur aural experiences that have dity and conviviality with a view animated night crawlers for to returning radical social ges- decades, while enabling us, as tures to the hands of artists. do Hess and Cohen, to imag- The anchoring of everyday ac- ine new ‘social-aesthetic’ tivities like cooking and eating encounters. playfully disrupt conventions around food and sociality in the spirit of Situationism. We will then be joined by Martin Hess, whose work with the Volks kulturfest Obwald, the iconic rural folk festival in central Switzerland, demonstrates the transcultural connections in- strumentalised by folk genres. For ATARAXIA, Hess will present material from past editions of the festival, convening Folk’s pasts, presents and futures. Closing this first chapter is Pádraic E. Moore, who steers us toward the twilight a b

Wednesday, 10 May Thursday, 11 May Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi

12:45pm 6:30pm flamenco dancers and Bhutan ArtSpeaksForItself (ASFI) Welcome and introductions: monks to Malian musicians, Lunch Performance Marianne Burki (Head of Visual the Swiss festival is unique in (by invitation) Arts, Swiss Arts Council Pro its cross-sectional exposition Helvetia), Sandi Paucic (Project of folk genres. For ATARAXIA’s Arnaud Cohen initiated the Leader – Swiss participation opening event, Hess shares ArtSpeaksForItself foundation Venice Biennale, Swiss Arts Volkskulturfest Obwald in mu- to foster dialogue and ex- Council Pro Helvetia) and Koyo sic and film from over a 10-year change between artists, cura- Kouoh (Salonnière, Salon period, demonstrating how tors and critical thinkers. In the Suisse 2017) bringing together different cul- face of an art world increas- tures and languages under the ingly shaped by corporate in- 6:45pm umbrella of folk enables new terests, ASFI seeks to facilitate Martin Hess: presentation and sensibilities to emerge. Hess is meaningful artist-led encoun- conversation with Samuel joined in conversation by ters set in convivial and inti- Leuenberger Samuel Leuenberger, indepen- mate settings with a view to dent curator and Co-Salonnier. break down traditional roles of Initiated by Martin Hess, Volks Reflecting on folk traditions spectatorship associated with kulturfest Obwald is a critically and contemporaneity, Hess performance. For ATARAXIA, acclaimed folk festival that will discuss what defining folk Cohen is joined by a guest per- takes place in Obwalden, cen- culture means for folk genres former, who will serve lunch tral Switzerland, nestled in a and listening experiences of for a small group of invitees. forest by Lake Sarnen. The fes- today and tomorrow. tival has deliberately retained an intimate atmosphere since its conception in 2006, pro viding a unique and vibrant platform for folk musicians who travel from far and wide to share their knowledge with like-minded musicians and audiences. From Andalusian c

Friday, 12 May Ex Cantiere Lucchese, Giudecca (by invitation)

8pm scendence which emphasises Opening party in celebration of music’s capacity to restore this year's Swiss participation arcane instincts. in the Biennale

10pm Pádraic E. Moore: Music for Chameleons

Music for Chameleons is an ongoing project initiated by Pádraic E. Moore. The project is conceived as an inclusive, interactive happening con- cerned with the politics of plea- sure. At the core of the project is an extensive collection of singles and LPs belonging to late 20th century musical genres such as Hi-NRG. This music can be deemed histori- cally significant, either because it was technically pioneering or had a liberating impact upon social interaction. Music for Chameleons is a celebration of the redemptive transgressive potential of music as a sensibility and social- aesthetic practice; a temporary site of subversion and tran- Salon Two

31 August – 2 September 2017 eating well

In this two-part weekend of culinary exploration and feast- ing, a host of guests seek to abate your hunger for flavour, friendship and guerrilla tactics. Samuel Leuenberger has invited artists and gastronomic provocateurs Sandra Knecht and Maurice Maggi to open the second Salon, entitled ‘eating well’. Joining forces for ATARAXIA, Knecht and Maggi will prepare an edible geopolitical roadmap (exit ramps included) of Switzerland to Ven- ice. Audiences will be invited to taste the fruits of foraged verdure and market finds. By sampling a variety of methods and approaches Knecht and Maggi trace the routes of political agricultures through tra ditional regional cultivation methods. For Friday and Satur- day’s soirees, Koyo Kouoh and farid rakun cordially invite you to join special guests Zoe Butt, David Teh and Reza Afisina. Different types of -ca maraderie will be served with congenial sides and refreshing charm – this is a weekend for friendships, fine tastes, and most importantly, fun. a b

Thursday, 31 August Friday, 1 September Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi

6:30pm fish with seeds from Switzer- 6:30pm Tavolata: An evening of edible land and Italy as well as with Introduction to CONSUME knowledge with Sandra Knecht Soumbala, a West African seed with Reza Afisina, Zoe Butt, and Maurice Maggi paste. Knecht and Maggi will farid rakun and David Teh share the results of these pro- Maurice Maggi and Sandra cesses alongside fresh, locally 7pm Knecht present an edible car- sourced fish and vegetables Friendship and tography mapping the ethicu- from Venice’s markets and gar- Paranoid Regionalism rean and geopolitical land- dens, which she will prepare scape of food in and around and cook during the August ‘Friendship and Paranoid Venice. Maggi will create a event. Regionalism’ offers personal Tavolata with local ingredients takes on the economies of and wildflowers sourced from hospitality and obligation the streets and gardens of among the quasi-institutions Venice, foraging an edible por- driving contemporary art in trait of the city. For Maggi, the Southeast Asia. The main dish, foraged crop is indicative Nyonya Chicken Curry, will of both the environmental and be garnished with cartographic social conditions of a neigh- anecdotes (rather than over- bourhood, providing clues views) which are unavoidably about the local habitat and entrenched in colonialist, how it enriches the lives of its globalist and ‘connectionist’ inhabitants. Experimenting network technologies. with different cooking methods, Sandra Knecht proposes a bridge between the alps and the sea. From the highest peak down to sea level, she asks: how does a geographical en vironment inform culinary practices, and what sort of conser- vation methods are preferred? For ATARAXIA, Knecht applies traditional fermentation techniques, seasoning meats and c

Saturday, 2 September Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi

6:30pm 8:15pm Introduction to CONSUME Sharing Surviving with Reza Afisina, Zoe Butt, farid rakun and David Teh A relaxing lounge with DJ and drinks plus Jakarta graphic 6:45pm diaries. Heavy and massive The Art of Confession – construction sites. B-side his- giving, creating, maintaining, tories on-the-go. Viral gossip provoking Time spreading through Facebook accounts that refuse to de Whiskey and wine, passed activate and keep spamming around to garner juicy stories. inboxes. Fundamentalist Let’s start with the question: moslems as parents. Twelve who’s got your back in the million motorbikes. Survival journey of studying life through is indeed a social glue. art? Consider this a kind of group therapy. This is what it’s CONSUME is co-devised by like to work in environments Reza Afisina, Zoe Butt, farid where role models and men- rakun and David Teh. tors are as snow is to the trop- ics – or to be more extreme – where honesty can get you surveilled by the State (think Vietnam, yes I said ‘Vietnam’). We gather in groups, often hidden, in private spaces where getting personal, confronting each other and ourselves, is as much about valuing our dig- nity as it is about knowing that sharing time is the true ‘art’ of human survival. The Venice of the biennale,

receiving on average

3,000 visitors per day, or the

Venice home to a vanishing

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Switzerland image The 19 – 21 October 2017 cultivating well

How do foodstuffs carry stories human and nonhuman sub- of imperialism? Are our tastes jects. The discussants will fit for consumption? The third respond to colonial legacies of Salon brings together a series botany in formulating strate- of interconnected discussions gies of commoning, decoloni- around Switzerland’s post- sation and care – strategies and decolonial condition. With which attend to what feminist discussants Roger M. Buergel, scholar Donna Haraway refers Patricia Purtschert and Felwine to as more ‘response-able’ Sarr, ‘Unfinished Business’ living. Examining conflicts aris- reflects on Switzerland’s less- ing from market involvement determinable involvement in the management of ‘nature’, in colonial practices and its FRAUD (FRan Gallardo + accountability in the mytholo- AUDrey Samson) present in- gisation of Switzerland’s im- vestigations from Carbon age of political neutrality. ‘The Derivatives, a project examin- Wretched Earth’, introduced ing the ties between the forest by Lívia Páldi, further investi- as a storage resource of car- gates how these relations take bon, the boreal forest’s disap- shape in domestic settings, pearance and emission trad- tracing imperialist and capital- ing systems (ETS). With ‘cloud’ ist occupancies of the earth cocktails providing the lubri- in adapting and regulating the cant, FRAUD lead a discussion cultivation of plant species. around the affective and Åsa Sonjasdotter, joined in contentious powers emerging conversation by Ros Gray and from green trade. Shela Sheikh, uses the potato plant as an unassuming, yet lucid example of a vegetal global migrancy. A staple of many European and American domestic diets, the potato – native to South America – tells one of many stories of co-species entanglements between

Salon Three Thursday, 19 October Friday, 20 October Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi

6:30pm 6:30pm more efficient carbon yield. Unfinished Business: FRAUD (FRan Gallardo + In turn, these efficient storage A conversation between AUDrey Samson): Carbon sites increase a country’s Roger M. Buergel, Patricia Derivatives + conversation collateral for the emissions Purtschert and Felwine Sarr. between FRAUD and Guido trade. This carbon market is Moderated by Koyo Kouoh Rudolphi contentiously emerging, while simultaneously destroying What does ‘colonialism without Carbon Derivatives engages ecosystems and indigenous colonies’ look like? How do with material and cultural dis- knowledge systems. As the we encourage dialogue around courses that legitimise green Swiss Emissions Trading Sys- the shifting frames of repre- trade and the affective powers tem is being linked to that sentation of late capitalism that emerge from it, using of the EU, this event aims at and its manifestations of cul- cloud cocktails (prepared using examining some of the reper- tural exclusion and exception- real smoke) as carbonic mate- cussions or the so-called ‘slow alism? The formative publica- rial to think with. The current violence’ compounded from tion, Colonial Switzerland: epoch undergoing northern cli- this marriage of markets. Rethinking Colonialism from mate change and globalised Carbon Derivatives was devel- the Margins (eds: Patricia anthropogenic impact can be oped in partnership with the Purtschert and Harald Fischer- putatively defined by the British Council, Helsinki Inter- Tiné, 2015) marked a decisive affective power embedded in national Artist Programme and long-overdue incorpora- flows of carbon and carbon (HIAP), Helsinki Design Week tion of Switzerland into the derivatives: hydrocarbons fuel- (HDW) and Aalto University postcolonial imaginary. This ling engines or metabolic pro- School of Arts, Design and panel will discuss the complic- cesses, and financial trading Architecture. ity and influence of Switzerland systems such as green bonds, as penumbra in the colonial or emissions trading systems enterprise, whose involvement (ETS). Utilising trees as carbon continues to have an effect storage has the effect of on international relations today. reducing their biological func- tion to a commodity for the service economy, framing carbon as both material and economy. This argument facilitates the replacement of boreal forest by industrial forests, with a b Saturday, 21 October Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi

6:30pm The Wretched Earth: Conversa- tion with Ros Gray, Shela Sheikh and Åsa Sonjasdotter

The conversation will focus on some of the ideas animating a forthcoming special issue of Third Text, co-edited by Gray and Sheikh, and including a contribution by Sonjasdotter. Entitled ‘The Wretched Earth: Botanical Conflicts and Artistic Interventions’, the issue gathers together new research on and through contemporary art practices that explore the politics, and attendant desires and violences, of cultivation. Drawing on ecofeminist, post- and decolonial thought, the special issue addresses legacies of the colonial plantation system and botanical classifi- cation, together with contemporary forms of imperialist and/or capitalist occupation of the earth through agro- business and extractive indus- tries. Against global regimes of financialisation that dese- crate the earth, the issue explores practices of commoning, decolonisation and care of the soil in the speculative in- vention of alternative futures. c 23 – 25 November 2017 kinesis

The final Salon, ‘kinesis’, exam- Claudia Comte will explore ines what contemporary per- modes of assembling and se- formance allows us to ‘do’. The quencing performance acts salon will investigate some of within the framework of the ways in which performance ATARAXIA. Rooney’s perfor- articulates national or civic mance ‘Poor Memory’ uses identities – and invites audi- poetry as a primary register to ences to co-habit or activate communicate vectors of them. Performance can stac- contemporary life. Marcos cato the flow of time, giving Lutyens’s performance rise to cessations and pauses, ‘Phobophobia/Philaphilia’ en- loops and returns, and in doing gages our senses via hypno- so enable encounters with sis, offering a visceral journey complex histories. But how do through areas of the body performative strategies occu- wherein the ‘fear of fear’ is py speculative worlds long thought to reside, towards a enough for us to feel their ef- state of ‘philaphilia’ or the ‘love fects? Kinesis begins by ex- of joy’. Meanwhile, Claudia ploring the limits of language Comte uses the Swiss culinary through the phenomenon of staple of cheese fondue as glossolalia or ‘speaking in a system for structuring social tongues’. In this multi-language activity. performance by Khyam Allami and Naim Al Asmar, linguistic transgression is explored as a means of communicating an ‘unintelligible’ language, albeit one which is emotionally or psychically expressive. Perfor- mances by artists Megan Rooney, Marcos Lutyens and

Salon Four Thursday, 23 November Friday, 24 November Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi

6:30pm 6:30pm a state of ‘philaphilia’ or the Glossolalia in C: A microtonal, Without Poetry Nothing is ‘love of joy’. Megan Rooney’s multi-language, experimental Possible: New performances works aim at transforming the music and poetry performance by Marcos Lutyens and Megan quality of a space using the by Khyam Allami and Naim Al Rooney personalities of the characters Asmar she projects into them. Her Presenting newly commis- narratives occupy a shape- More commonly known as sioned performances, Marcos shifting tonality made manifest ‘speaking in tongues’, glosso- Lutyens and Megan Rooney in video and sculpture installa- lalia is usually associated with use performance as a platform tions, expansive murals feat religious rites, wherein believ- for transformation. Marcos uring discombobulated figures ers suddenly begin speaking Lutyens invites us on a hyp- and, as is the case for ATARA in an obscure, undecipherable notic journey to expunge a XIA, spoken word performance. language. It is essentially a vo- contemporaneous condition: Rooney’s poetry is a conduit calising of words in syllabic the ‘fear of fear’ – a condition for expressing the complex cadence that transgresses exacerbated by the prolifera- voice of a young woman ma- language. Based on their vocal tion of primary and secondary noeuvring in today’s world. experiments with poetry, per- trauma in visual culture. For formance, incantation, digital ‘Phobophobia/Philaphilia’, recording and traditional Lutyens deploys artistic and instruments, Composer and restorative processes to locate musician Khyam Allami and the areas of the body wherein long-time collaborator Naim fear is thought to collect and Al Asmar propose an intriguing reside. Adopting the technique preview introduced by Co- of ‘discharge’ from Somatic Salonnière, Rasha Salti. Experiencing – a form of therapy aimed at relieving and re- solving the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Lutyens aims at moving the audience toward a b Saturday, 25 November Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi

7:30pm Claudia Comte: The Primary Fondue Party

The Primary Fondue Party is an interactive dinner performance by multidisciplinary artist Claudia Comte, who has designed an original caquelon set for the occasion. A colour- ful cheese fondue will be prepared and served to 40 guests seated in a playful structure. The performance draws on Comte’s interest in the possibilities of modular, multi-part works and their infinite modal- ities of display. Logic and strategy perform a structural role in Comte’s works. From modernist, concrete and minimalist principles to board games and comics, these frames return throughout as systems of regulation and particularity.

Due to limited capacity, booking is required for this event. To reserve a place please email [email protected] between 20 – 24 November. c Biographies recently, the artistic director of Busan Biennale and works in Berlin. Recent exhibitions include Sandra Knecht (b. 1968, Zurich) is an artist 2012 in South Korea, for which he conceived 10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum who uses cooking as a central part of her work. the Garden of Learning, a social experiment in Luzern (until June 2017) – her largest solo show She studied at the Schauspielakademie of Reza ‘Asung’ Afisina is a performance artist, transcultural curating which sought to empha- to date, and Desert X, Palm Springs (2017), a Ulm, the Art Institute of Zurich and the Zürcher based in Depok and working in Jakarta. Afisina sise the production of artworks through col group show comprising site-specific works Hochschule der Künste, and now lives and often uses his body and found objects as laboration. installed between the area west of Desert Hot works between Buus and Basel. Until 2011 she a medium to express and imprint his observa- Springs and Coachella. She has recently pub- worked primarily as a director of theatre and tions of daily life. He works in a variety of Zoe Butt is a curator and writer committed to lished 40 × 40, a 416-page artist’s book with performance at the Theater Neumarkt, Zurich, media including installation and audio-visual the building of critically thinking, culturally Edition Patrick Frey. among others. She has exhibited at Helmhaus delights. conscious, artistic communities. Currently she Zürich and Kunstkredit Basel at Kunsthalle is Artistic Director of The Factory Contemporary FRAUD is a métis duo of artist-researchers Basel. In 2015 she founded Chnächt, a restau- A self-confessed ‘schizophrenic musician’, Arts Centre, a private social enterprise in (FRan Gallardo + AUDrey Samson). Their rant and art project situated in Basel’s indus- Khyam Allami (b. 1981, Damascus) is a multi- District 2, Saigon – Vietnam’s first purpose built backgrounds include computational and soft- trial harbour. The project aims to formulate an instrumentalist, serial collaborator, composer space for contemporary art. Previously she ware culture, environmental history, post expanded understanding of ‘home’ by bringing and musical explorer based in Beirut. Allami is was Executive Director and Curator of Sàn Art, colonial feminism, cultural studies, disruptive people together around the sensibilities of largely recognised for his work with his primary Ho Chi Minh City, and prior to this, Director design, performance and space systems engi- home-cooking, locally sourced ingredients and instrument, the oud, which has led him to tour of International Programs, Long March Project, neering. The duo focuses on exploring forms of regional cuisine. internationally. His debut solo album Reso- Beijing (2007–09) and Assistant Curator of slow violence and necropolitics that are em- nance/Dissonance was released in 2011 to criti- Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art bedded in the entanglement of archiving prac- Koyo Kouoh is the founding artistic director of cal acclaim. In Beirut, Allami is a resident pro- Gallery, Brisbane (2001–07). Her curatorial refer- tices and technical objects, and erasure as a RAW Material Company, a center for art, know ducer, recording and mix engineer at One Hertz ral work is pan-Asian, working with private disruptive technology in knowledge production. ledge and society in Dakar, Senegal, and the Studios and in 2014, he launched his own in collectors and researchers, independent cura- Past exhibitions and performances have taken curator of FORUM at 1:54 Contemporary African dependent record label Nawa Recordings with tors and major museums globally. Select recent place at Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, Art Fair in London and New York. She was re- Maurice Louca's seminal album Benhayyi projects include: Embedded South(s) (2016) Rotterdam; Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus; Haus der cently appointed artistic director of Fabrica de Al-Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot), which he and Dislocate: Bui Cong Khanh, The Factory Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin; Bâtiment d’art Sabao, an art & innovation initiative in Luanda, mixed. He has also composed, produced and Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City Contemporain, Geneva; Tabakalera – Interna- Angola. Kouoh’s theoretical, exhibition-making mixed music for award-winning films such as (2016). Butt has been published extensively by tional Centre for Contemporary Culture, San and production practice has contributed to Leyla Bouzid's As I Open My Eyes (A peine Hatje Cantz, Art Review, Art Asia Pacific, Lalit Sebastian; Maison d’Art Actuel des Chartreux a paradigm shift in global curatorial perspec- j'ouvre les yeux) (2015). Kala Akademi, Artlink, Printed Projects, (MAAC), Brussels; Victoria and Albert Museum, tives of recent years. She was the curator of JRP-Ringier, Routledge and Sternberg Press. London; and CentroCentro, Madrid. Still (the) Barbarians, the 37th EVA International, Naim Al Asmar (b. 1984, Beirut) is a singer, Ireland’s Biennial in Limerick (2016) and is the musician and composer working in multiple Arnaud Cohen (b. 1968, Paris) lives and works Ros Gray is Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Critical initiator of RAW Académie, an international cultural traditions and musical repertoires. between Paris and his island factory-workshop Studies in the Art Department at Goldsmiths, study programme for artistic research and cu- Schooled in piano, the trumpet and the oud at in Cenon sur Vienne, France. Cohen’s work where she also co-ordinates a campus allot- ratorial enquiry in Dakar. She lives and works in the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory explores the relationship between history and ment. Her research explores the trajectories of Dakar, Luanda and Basel. of Music, he later studied Musicology at An- fiction and contemporary and postmodern militant filmmaking, particularly in relation to tonine University in Baabda, Lebanon. He has mythologies. Producing multiform and protean liberation struggles and revolutionary move- Samuel Leuenberger is a Basel-born indepen- co-founded and performed in several music works, Cohen often draws from Situationist ments in Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guin- dent curator. He is the founder and director of groups which interpret lyrical genres from the traditions to unpack frames of allegory, hyper- ea-Bissau and Burkina Faso, and more recently SALTS, a space dedicated to exhibit contem region's repertoire – from 19th-century Levan- reality and globalisation. His techniques of ap- analyses the intersections between artistic porary art in Birsfelden, Switzerland, which pro- tine renaissance traditions and classical propriation extend across social and aesthetic practices and ecology, particularly in relation to motes emerging Swiss and international 20th-century Arabic music to Syriac, Byzantine forms from the character of Mickey Mouse to cultivation. Ros is the author of numerous arti- artists. Since 1998 he has worked with several and Islamic chanting. In 2012, Asmar ventured reality television. His work has been exhibited cles in journals including ARTMargins, The galleries, institutions and non-profit organisa- into musical theatre and opera, interpreting and performed extensively in exhibitions and Journal of Visual Cultures, The Journal of African tions, amongst others for Kunsthalle Zurich original compositions of contemporary Arabic biennales. Recent presentations include Palais Cinemas and Textile: Journal of Cloth and Cul- and Stephen Friedman Gallery. He co-curated music for these settings. de Tokyo, Paris (2016) and forthcoming are ture. She is on the Editorial Board of Third Text, Pro Helvetia’s presentation for the ‘Collection Hunting Season, a solo exhibition organised by and is currently preparing two publications, Cahiers d’Artistes’ in 2013 and was associate Roger M. Buergel (b. 1962, Berlin) is a curator Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin including a monograph entitled The Cinemas curator of ‘14 Rooms’, a joint venture between and founding director of Johann Jacobs (2017), BIENALSUR, Buenos Aires (2017) and of the Mozambican Revolution. Fondation Beyeler, Theater Basel and Art Basel Museum in Zurich, a private institution dedi- Something Else, Off Biennale Cairo (2017). in 2014. Since 2016, he is the curator of Art cated to the research and display of global Martin Hess (b. 1948, Engelberg) is the founder Basel’s Parcours sector and is member of the trade routes and their remnants, or what might Claudia Comte (b. 1983, Grancy) incorporates and artistic manager of the Volkskulturfest Commission of the Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt. be loosely labelled ‘the migration of form’. painting, sculpture, performance and audi- Obwald, a folk festival in Obwalden, central Curatorial projects include Mobile Worlds at ence-activated events into her multiform prac- Switzerland, held annually since 2006. Prior to the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg tice. She is recognised for her sculptural works this, Hess was the producer and manager (2016–18) and Suzhou Documents (co-curated and large-scale outdoor installations which of Stephan Eicher and initiator of the Mondial with Zhang Qing) at the Suzhou Museum in play on conventions of public art and celebrate Théâtre as part of Expo.02, the 6th Swiss China (2016). He was the artistic director of nature in its various forms. Comte graduated national exposition held in Yverdon-les-Bains documenta 12 in Kassel (2007) and more from ECAL in Lausanne in 2010 and now lives in 2002. Marcos Lutyens’s work explores the potential Born in Budapest, Lívia Páldi is the Curator of Guido Rudolphi (b. 1961, Zug) is an IT security Shela Sheikh is Lecturer at the Centre for Cul- of cognitive and neurological research in Visual Arts at Project Arts Centre in Dublin. expert working primarily in internet forensics. tural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London, transitioning human consciousness. He has Previously she was director of BAC – Baltic Art As a legal hacker he became known for his where she convenes the MA Postcolonial Cul- conducted research with social groups includ- Center, Visby between 2012 and 2015 and chief infiltration into parts of the Al-Qaida network ture and Global Policy. Prior to this she was ing the third-gender muxe, Raelians, synes- curator of the Műcsarnok/Kunsthalle Budapest and for hacking into pornography syndicates, Research Fellow and Publications Coordinator thetes, space engineers and mental architects between 2007 and 2011. She has organised as well as for his critical analysis of modern in- on the ERC-funded Forensic Architecture to examine how the unconscious mind shifts talks, discussions, workshops and numerous telligence methods deployed by national project based in the Centre for Research Archi- across cultures and backgrounds. Lutyens has exhibitions and edited several books and exhi- secret services. tecture, also Goldsmiths. She is currently exhibited and performed internationally at bition catalogues. Páldi was one of the working on a monograph about the phenome- the Guggenheim Museum, New York, Palazzo curatorial agents of dOCUMENTA (13). During Rasha Salti is an independent film and visual non of the ‘martyr video-testimony’ and its Fortuny, Venice, Fondation Boghossian, Brus- 2016 she was member of the OFF-Biennale arts curator and writer, working and living cultural representation, read primarily through sels, Serpentine Galleries, London, Manifesta 11, Budapest curatorial board. She lives and works between Beirut and Berlin. She has co-curated the lens of deconstruction, and a multi-plat- Zurich, the 14th Istanbul Biennial, the Los in Dublin. a number of film programmes including The form research project around colonialism, Angeles County Museum of Art, Centre Pom- Road to Damascus (2006–08) and most re- botany and the politics of planting. pidou, Paris, the National Art Museum of China Patricia Purtschert is professor of Gender cently, Mapping Subjectivity: Experimentation and MoMA PS1, New York, among others. His Studies and co-director of the Interdisciplinary in Arab Cinema from the 1960s until Now Born in Sweden, Åsa Sonjasdotter is an artist book, Memoirs of a Hypnotist: 100 Days (Stern Center for Gender Studies (ICFG) at the Univer- (2010–12) at MoMA in New York. Salti has col- investigating stories from co-species entan- berg Press, 2016), chronicles the 100 days of sity of Bern. Her areas of interest are feminist laborated with a number of festivals as a glements of people and plants. She is a found- dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel where Lutyens and queer theory, postcolonialism and intersec- programmer, including the Toronto International ing member of The Neighbourhood Academy, performed 340 hypnotic inductions with his tionality. Recent publications include Postkolo- Film Festival (2011–15). She co-curated the Prinzessinnengarten, Berlin. She has been pro- audiences. niale Schweiz: Formen und Folgen eines 10th edition of the Sharjah Biennial (2015) and fessor at Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Kolonialismus ohne Kolonien (transcript, 2012) Past Disquiet: Narratives and Ghosts from the Art in Tromsø, Norway, an institution she was Maurice Maggi (b. 1955, Zurich) is an artist, chef, (co-edited with Barbara Lüthi and Francesca Exhibition of International Art for Palestine involved in establishing. She has presented writer and urban explorer. The son of Italian Falk), Colonial Switzerland: Rethinking Colonial- (Beirut, 1978) at the Museum of Contemporary her work at Natural History Museum, Berlin; emigrants, he spent his youth working as a ism from the Margins (Palgrave Macmillan, Art in Barcelona and Haus der Kulturen der LACMA, Los Angeles; Yerba Buena Center for landscape gardener before moving into gas- 2015) (co-edited with Harald Fischer-Tiné) and Welt in Berlin (2016). As a writer, Salti’s articles the Arts, San Francisco; Musée de la Chasse tronomy. He has made a significant impact in a special issue of National Identities on ‘Colo- and essays have been published in Afterall, et de la Nature, Paris; Sapporo International urban cuisine and guerrilla gardening, having nialism without Colonies: Examining Blank The Jerusalem Quarterly Report, Naqd, MERIP, Arts Festival, Japan; Centre Culturel 104, Paris; promoted the term ‘flower graffiti’, whereby he Spaces in Colonial Studies’ (2016) (co-edited The London Review of Books and Third Text. The Worldly House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel; plants wildflower seeds in public spaces. Most with Barbara Luethi and Francesca Falk). and the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, China among notably he is the author of Essbare Stadt (2014). Felwine Sarr (b. 1972, Niodior, Sine-Saloum) is several places. Sonjasdotter lives and works Since 2002, Maggi has held a guest professor- Trained as an architect, farid rakun currently a Senegalese scholar and writer. He lectures in Berlin. ship at the Hochschule Luzern and continues functions as a researcher and education coor- widely on economic policy, econometrics, epis- to give regular workshops on how to prepare dinator for the artists’ initiative ruangrupa, a temology and the history of religious ideas. David Teh is a curator and researcher based dishes using edible wildflowers. Tavolatas have non-profit organisation founded in 2000 that In 2011, Sarr was made Dean of the Economics at the National University of Singapore, spe- fast become his signature event – orchestrating examines contemporary Indonesian urban and and Management faculty of Civilizations, cialising in Southeast Asian contemporary art. seasonal dinners in urban locations such as cultural issues. Recently he was appointed Religions, Arts and Communication (CRAC) at Before moving to Singapore he worked inde- the exit ramp of a highway. to serve as the managing director of Jakarta Université Gaston Berger, Saint-Louis, Senegal. pendently in Bangkok, realising diverse exhibi- Biennale. As a published writer, his texts include Dahij tions including Platform (2006), The More Pádraic E. Moore (b. 1982, Dublin) is a writer, (Gallimard, 2009), 105 Rue Carnot (Mémoire Things Change (5th Bangkok Experimental Film curator and art historian. He holds a BA in Megan Rooney (b. 1986, Canada) completed her d'Encrier, 2011), Méditations Africaines Festival, 2008) and Unreal Asia, 55. Interna History of Art and English Literature from Uni- MFA at Goldsmiths College, London in 2011. (Mémoire d'encrier, 2012) and Afrotopia tionale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (2009). His versity College Dublin (2004), an MA in Visual An interdisciplinary artist working in painting, (Philippe Rey, 2016). He co-founded the pub- recent projects have included Video Vortex #7, Art Practices from IADT, Dublin (2007) and performance and installation, her works evoke lishing house Jimsaan with fellow writers Yogyakarta (2011), TRANSMISSION, Jim Thomp- completed CuratorLab, the postgraduate pro- conditions of singular experience but poten Boubacar Boris Diop and Nafissatou Dia and son Art Center, Bangkok (2014) and Misfits, gramme at Konstfack University, Stockholm tiate plural and shared encounters. In her per- is Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual publication, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017). Teh’s (2010). Moore’s practice is shaped by the belief formances Rooney combines choreographed Journal of African Transformation. In October writings have appeared in Third Text, Afterall, that visual art enables alternative modes of movement, dance, costume and text. Past 2016, he co-organised with Achille Mbembe, ARTMargins, Theory Culture & Society and interaction in a world increasingly led by tech- works of this nature include Last Days. Last the Ateliers de la Pensée, an annual platform The Bangkok Post, and his book, Thai Art: Cur- nological rationality. Moore’s projects often Days. Last Days. which was presented at the held in Dakar and Saint-Louis which gathers rencies of the Contemporary was published explore how contemporary culture has em- Serpentine Gallery and f on your tongue, com- together 30 Afro-diasporic scholars and artists this year by MIT Press. He is also a director of braced aesthetics and ideals informed by eso- missioned by LUMA foundation for Project to reflect on post- and decolonial thought Future Perfect, a gallery and project platform teric traditions; chronicling the work of artists 1049 and performed atop a suspension bridge and epistemologies. in Singapore. who refer to or follow in this tradition is an connecting two mountain peaks in Gstaad. integral aspect of his practice. Recent solo exhibitions include Sun Up Moon Down, Freymond-Guth Fine Arts, Basel (2017), Animals on the bed, Seventeen, London (2016) and Piggy Piggy, Croy Nielsen, Berlin (2016). Rooney lives and works in London. Imprint Salon Suisse 2017 1 2 ATARAXIA Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi Old shipyard The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia is man Salonnière Campo S. Agnese “Ex Cantiere Lucchese” dated by the Swiss Confederation to promote Koyo Kouoh artistic creation in Switzerland to contribute Co-Salonniers Dorsoduro 810, Venezia Giudecca, Venezia to cultural exchange at home and promote the Samuel Leuenberger, Lívia Páldi, Vaporetto stop: Vaporetto stop: dissemination of Swiss culture abroad and farid rakun, Rasha Salti foster cultural outreach. It is responsible for Collaborating institution Zattere or Accademia Palanca Swiss contributions to the several editions of RAW Material Company, Dakar Art and Architecture biennials in Venice. rawmaterialcompany.org Switzerland has taken part in the Biennale Arte Curatorial & editorial assistant since 1920 and in the Biennale Architettura Gabriella Beckhurst since 1991. Project assistants The 6th edition of the Salon Suisse is an Jacqueline Wolf, Cleoriana Benacloche, official collateral event of the Biennale. It is Tobia Pagani, Martina Lughi accompanying the participation of Switzerland at the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. It is initiated and orga- Publisher nized by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Pro Helvetia Copyright text biennals.ch Koyo Kouoh prohelvetia.ch Copyright publication Pro Helvetia and the authors Commissioner Editor Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Marianne Koyo Kouoh Burki, Head of Visual Arts; Sandi Paucic, Design Project Leader; Rachele Giudici Legittimo, NORM, Zurich Project Coordinator Printer Public relations Switzerland Musumeci S.p.A., Quart (IT) Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, musumecispa.it Marlène Mauris, Chantal Hirschi Rights Public relations International Pro Helvetia and the authors Pickles PR, Caroline Widmer, Typeface Kathrin Jira, Camille Regli LL Riforma, lineto.com Media partner Print run/Edition ArtReview 7000

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