Collaborations with Simon Berger
Equinox Collaborative Performance
Parco Archeologico di Bedolina, Val Camonica, Italy Sept. 22, 2024 at 2:42pm
"Le Montagne Dientro di Te”, Mixed media on glass
Piu Valli TV Story, Sept. 24 2022
Collaboration at Domaine Bovy Vineyards, Chexbres, Switzerland
June, 2024
PRESS RELEASE Equinox Collaborative Performance : Simon Berger and Bill Claps
Bienno, Italy, August 20, 2024 Bienno Borgo Artisti 2.0 and Parco Archeologico Comunale di Seradina-Bedolina present “Equinox Collaborative Performance”, a performance collaboration between Swiss contemporary artist Simon Berger and American/Italian artist Bill Claps. The performance will take place on an elevated location between the sacred mountains of Pizzo Badile and Concarena, in Parco Archeologico Comunale di Seradina-Bedolina, beginning precisely at the moment of the autumn equinox, 2:42 pm on Sunday Sept. 22. The performance is part of a weekend of events inaugurating Studio Camonica, Claps’s new studio and collaborative work space in the medieval village of Bienno in collaboration with Associazione Bienno Borgo Artisti 2.0 and Comune di Bienno. The project is co-curated by Cinzia Bontempi, Director of Bienno Borgo Artisti 2.0, and artist Bill Claps.
Berger and Claps will create a mixed media work of art that captures a remarkable phenomenon that occurs every spring and autumn equinox at the peaks of the “male” mountain of Pizzo Badile and the female mountain of Concarena, situated on opposite sides of the Camonica valley. At the moment of the equinox, an extraordinary light refraction emphasizes the male and female “organs” of the mountains in a spectacular display. Astroarcheologists and other scientists have theorized that this phenomenon inspired the extensive religious and cult activity in the valley that led to the explosion of rock art expression during the Bronze and Iron ages.
About Val Camonica: Val Camonica contains over 300,000 ancient rock carvings, the largest concentration of prehistoric petroglyphs in the world, many dating back as far as 10,000 years. These carvings reveal much about the lives and spiritual beliefs of the peoples and religions that populated this alpine region, including the religious cults that worshiped the sun and other celestial phenomena. Val Camonica Rock Art is the first Italian UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Artistic Collaboration Simon Berger and Bill Claps are two internationally renowned artists that have developed signature processes that use innovative materials and methods to transform light into a sculptural medium. Berger has pioneered a process of “morphogenesis”, where he creates images by breaking glass with a hammer, producing light within the cracks and jagged-edged shards of glass. Claps’ unique mixed media process combines photography, painting, and metallic foil applications to capture and reflect ambient light, creating a subtle luminosity that enhances and modifies his images, which evolve as the light of the day changes. The two artists collaborated in the summer of 2024 on a series of mixed media artworks on glass that captured iconic Swiss mountains.
About Associazione Bienno Borgo Artisti 2.0 Associazione Bienno Borgo degli Artisti 2.0 was born from the passion for artistic and creative expressions, the desire to transmit, disseminate and enhance contemporary art. Casa Valiga, known as "House of Artists," constitutes the beating heart of the association and the core of the activities, which are mainly developed in the historical center of Bienno. Individual and collective projects allow cultural interaction and the dissemination of artistic experiences in the area through individual and collective projects. Thanks to a selection from the annual call for proposals (the artist residency project born in 2013), some emerging figures in the field of contemporary art converge in Bienno in artistic residency to conduct their research and develop a specific projects by proposing different artistic languages and stimulating collaborations with local artists and artisans. A well-established collaboration with Academies and Universities (LABA Libera Accademia Belle Arti, NABA Nuova accademia Belle Arti and Liceo Artistico e Musicale Camillo Golgi) also guarantees opportunities for residential experiences for deserving students from the departments of visual arts, communication and applied arts. The flow of national and international artists encourages the activation of thematic workshops and experiential tourism in the studios, forges and workshops of the historic center. Artists and artisans, in contact with the aura of the town, the environment and natural elements, develop project goals that result in events, art exhibitions, artist and critics talks, performances, video art and works, which give the Borgo di Bienno an ever-evolving enrichment.
IG: @biennoborgoartisti2.0
The Seradina-Bedolina Municipal Archaeological Park, part of UNESCO site no. 94 “Rock Art of Valle Camonica”, is set in an extraordinarily beautiful panoramic position between the iconic mountains Pizzo Badile Camuno and Concarena. The park includes over 170 rocks with tens of thousands of rock engravings dating from the Late Neolithic/Early Copper Age (4th/3rd millennium BC) to the Iron Age (1st millennium BC). Engravings include the famous “Map of Bedolina”, the Camunian Rose, and numerous deer hunts, ploughing scenes and fighting duels. The Park also constitutes a small naturalistic niche with its own microclimate.
Simon Berger is an internationally renowned Swiss contemporary visual artist, best known for his pioneering artistic process where he creates images by breaking glass with a hammer, producing light within the cracks and jagged-edged shards of glass. Berger calls this process “morphogenesis”, a process involving force that generates stress. Originally trained as a master woodworker, Berger is a true Swiss craftsman who has evolved his artistic practice from wood into glass.
Berger is widely exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including Museo del Vetro, Murano, Italy; Museo Civico di Sansepolcoro, Italy; National Museum of Women’s History, Washington, D.C.; Vitromusee, Romont, Switzerland; Beit Beruit Museum; Murten Museum, Switzerland; NOA Collection, Lucern, Switzerland
IG: @simonbergerart
Bill Claps is a visual artist, photographer and filmmaker Bill Claps who is known for work that illustrates the universal roots and common elements that are shared by all cultures, often referencing history and language.
Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Bill earned a Bachelor of Arts at Harvard University, where he studied painting and art history. He studied painting and drawing at the Art Students League in New York and in Florence, Italy. His artworks have been presented in over thirty solo exhibitions and 80 group exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world, and his films have been shown in film festivals internationally.
Today Art Museum, Beijing; MOMA Tbilisi, Tbilisi, Georgia; Basel Photo, Basel, Switzerland; National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM), Rome, Italy, la Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Corsini in Rome; Laurent Marthaler Gallery, Montreux, Switzerland; Julie Keyes Fine Art (New York, Palm Beach), Galerie Marciano Contemporary, Paris; R Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Artgeneve, Geneva; Art 33 Gallery, Hangzhao, China; Art Monaco; Aspen Fine Arts Gallery (Aspen, Colorado), Trout Museum of Art (Appleton, WI), Samuel Morse Museum (Pookeepsie, NY)
Cinzia Bontempi is a writer and curator of editorial projects, art and photography exhibitions, specializing in journalism in London. In 2011 she founded and edited Babylon, the first digital art, design and architecture magazine published on iPad. She writes about art and design for several news outlets. Her background is linguistic-philosophical and she cultivates an interest in everything that represents innovation. Of Bienno origins, she is an expert in rock art and a scholar of astronomy. She has been Artistic Director of Bienno Borgo Artisti 2.0 since 2022.
PRESS RELEASE Artistic Collaboration: Simon Berger and Bill Claps
Montreux, Switzerland, June 12, 2024 Laurent Marthaler Contemporary is proud to present a collaboration between Swiss contemporary artist Simon Berger and American artist Bill Claps, where the artists will create a series of mixed media artworks inspired by the sacred mountains of Switzerland. Simon Berger and Bill Claps are two internationally renowned artists that have developed signature processes that use innovative materials and methods to transform light into a sculptural medium. Berger has pioneered a process of “morphogenesis”, where he creates images by breaking glass with a hammer, producing light within the cracks and jagged-edged shards of glass. Claps’ unique process combines photography, painting, and metallic foil applications to capture and reflect ambient light, creating a subtle luminosity that enhances and modifies his images, which evolve as the light of the day changes.
The Setting: The Sunlit Vineyard Terraces of Lavaux, Switzerland
The Lavaux region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its 800-year-old terraced vineyards on the south-facing shores of Lake Geneva. The auspicious climate of this area is a result of the convergence of three sources of energy from the sun: the direct light of the sun, the sun’s light reflected off of the surface of Lake Geneva, and the warmth of the sun’s rays stored in the ancient stones of the terraced walls. This is an ideal setting for the two artists to combine their complementary talents to create an artwork that is inspired by the spectacular mountain, lake, and vineyard landscapes, and the unique light of the region. The collaboration will take place on the Domaine Bovy Estate in Chexbres on Lake Geneva.
The Historical Context
The mountains surrounding Lake Geneva were held sacred by the tribes that populated the Swiss Alps in the Pagan periods before Christianity. Since that time, many generations of Swiss and European artists have been inspired by the spectacular natural beauty and spirit of this region. These artists include realist painter Gustave Courbet, and modernist painters Felix Vallotton and Ferdinand Hodler, all of whom produced important paintings created on the slopes above and around the Lavaux region.
Berger and Claps’ collaboration adds a new chapter to the art historical canon of the region, with the creation of a work of art that expresses the eternal and harmonious relationship between nature and humanity.
The Materials: Glass, Paint, and Gold and Silver Foils
Gallery Representation: Laurent Marthaler Contemporary, of Zurich and Montreux, Switzerland
Founded in 2013 by Laurent Marthaler, the gallery focuses on exhibiting groundbreaking emerging and established Swiss and international artists that innovate with new materials, processes and concepts. http://www.laurentmarthaler.com