Month: October 2016

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Raphael Hefti: Project 1049

Agnieszka Gratza

This feature appeared in Dutch translation in the October issue of Metropolis M: The streets of Gstaad might as well be paved with gold. The main promenade of the exclusive alpine ski resort, which plays host to the international jet set, is lined with designer boutiques and luxury hotels. For a period of three weeks this summer, Swiss artist Raphael Hefti had the pavements of Gstaad and the neighboring Saanen village spray-painted with pulverized Swarovski ‘diamonds’ – to dazzling and quite uncanny effect. Unveiled on the final weekend of July, this somewhat elusive work was presented as part of the … Continue reading Raphael Hefti: Project 1049

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Collecting the uncollectable

Agnieszka Gratza

A version of this essay appeared in the current issue of Frieze Week magazine: ‘Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in [the collector]; it is he who lives in them’, wrote Walter Benjamin in his 1931 essay titled ‘Unpacking My Library – A Talk on Collecting’. Speaking at an event dedicated to ‘collecting performance’ hosted by the London non-profit Delfina Foundation, Marseille-based psychiatrists and collectors Marc and Josée Gensollen related Benjamin’s claim concerning books to their own experience of collecting live art. For them, ‘the most intimate relationship to … Continue reading Collecting the uncollectable