Jean Odermatt

Résumé du livre

Catalogue of the exhibition by Swiss artist Jean Odermatt, at the galleria gottardo in Lugano.This is not the usual classical collection of photographs, but rather a succession of interacting ideas that revolve around this Swiss artist?s life project. They lead us to the physical point called La Claustra, a foundation created at the very heart of the Saint Gotthard massive.La Claustra is located in the bunkers built by the Swiss Confederation during the first half of last century. Today these underground passages, these damp and cold spaces, have risen, thanks to the great work of the artist, to be at the centre of discussion, debate, meeting and reflection, among all those who are interested in the development of our contemporary world.CAMERA gives us a photographic interpretation of the Earth, portraying it as a living organism in its dynamic changeability through time, atmospheric conditions and light.LA PRIMA LINEA (The First Line) creates, drawing on the suggestion of an underground vein, a material and spiritual connection between Mt. St. Gotthard and Milan, with its cultural and religious origin in the hospice on the pass. The plates inserted in the ground at regular intervals, with text and images, form the connecting line between the two fixed points. BIBLIOTECA (Library) collects, in text and images, subjective experiences, thoughts and ideas on the human quest, drawing on studies from vastly differing sources. It comprises the project?s storage and cataloguing systems.SCENOGRAFIA (Setting) presents, via a sequence of mythical images, the ideas of the artist in stories and pictures. These are represented, along with other musicians and artists, within the real space of the fortification. LA CLAUSTRA is the point of meeting and access to the St. Gotthard project for the public.Like an on-site laboratory,LA CLAUSTRA brings the artistic and scientific questions which arise from the St. Gotthard project into acute focus, putting handles on global issues. And in the spirit of a true mountain academy, here the senses become refined, cultivating a fresh scientific exchange, while we enter an artistic dialogue.Jean Odermatt - biographical notes:Born in 1948 in Lucerne. Studied German and French literature. Degree in Sociology and Ethnology, University of Zurich. London School of Radical Theatre, London. School of Art, Colour and Form, Zurich.Lives at Eglisau, on the Gotthard, and in South-East Asia.