Eispavillon is located in the Swiss Alps above a village named Saas-fee. The
curators invited an artist collective named saasfee* to participate in the exhibition and respond to the case of shared identity.The collective consists of designers and artists from Frankfurt, Germany
who chose their name without visiting the village. Their past projects include an investigation into travel, Tourist 1.0 and 1.1 travel environments. This exhibition is the first time
that saasfee* collective is working in Saas-fee. The artists contribute to the gift shop
and to the interior of the ice cave. By using the gift shop as art space, saasfee* provokes
a reconsideration of the act of display and the importance of the
name of a tourist destination. Within
the gift shop, saasfee* postcards, logo t-shirts and sleeping masks take on added
significance. They have created an edition of four postcards that
represent their imagined impressions before even taking the trip. Their designs for real and imagined
products appear alongside the actual gift shop paraphenelia. Their products like sleeping masks compare travelling to dreaming and forgetting the real world, as much as any other gift shop item. The juxtaposition
of their contemporary design with Swiss kitsch however, represents the contradictory
nature of Swiss ski resorts - systematic places for international
travelers located in isolated, traditional villages. Inside the ice
cave, saasfee* presents a sculpture with ambient sound. Positioned
next to Mosset's work,the object provokes a reconsideration of minimalism
and indicates the absence of the white box museum or gallery space
in this site specific exhibition.
saasfee* est un collectif d’artistes allemands dont la contribution
à Eispavillon se manifesteà la fois dans la grotte en glace, il diffuse
par le biais de hauts-parleurs une musique de supermarché (musimax)
et présente une installation sonore – et dans la boutique de souvenirs,
à l’entrée de la grotte. Les t-shirts et les masques pour dormir à
l’enseigne de saasfee* qu’il propose à la vente acquièrent une signification
spécifique. En transformant la vitrine d’un commerce en espace d’art,
saasfee* mène à une reconsidération de l’exposition en tant que telle.
La juxtaposition de leur design contemporain, de leurs produits imaginaires
et du kitsch suisse représente la nature contradictoire des stations
touristiques de ski en Suisse.
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