Biographies

FACULTY

Badel/Sarbach (CH)
Jérémie Sarbach (CH) and Flurina Badel (CH) have been working as a duo since 2014. Jérémie Sarbach completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Institut Kunst HGK FHNW in Basel and at the Cooper Union, New York City. He then completed a Master in Critical Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and in Fine Arts at the Institut Kunst HGK FHNW Basel. Flurina Badel worked as a documentary filmmaker, completed the Master of Fine Arts at the Institute of Art HGK FHNW Basel and studied Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Badel/Sarbach was awarded the Manor Art Prize 2019 and nominated for the Media Art Prize Basel-Stadt/Basel-Land, among others. In 2020 Badel was awarded the Swiss Literature Prize for the poetry collection “tinnitus tropic”. www.badelsarbach.com

Laura Bodenmann (CH)
Laura Bodenmann studied scenography at the Zurich University of the Arts and is now doing a Master in Curatorial Studies. Her artistic practice moves between spaces and the people in them. She works as a scenographer, artist, designer, performer and cook. In all these fields, she pursues collaborative work and what can emerge when different people come together.

Gabriela Gerber / Lukas Bardill (CH)
Gabriela Gerber studied fine art at the University of Art and Design in Zurich and Lukas Bardill studied art and media design at the F + F School in Zurich and at the University of Bern. Since 1997 they have worked as an artist duo. They live in the pre-Alps of the Prättigau. Beside classical institutional exhibitions they realized projects in different secular environment such as unused stables, military combat installations or abandoned tunnels. Their artwork recived several prizes: Swiss art award (2004), Manor Kunstpreis (2006), Culture Prize of the Anny Casty-Sprecher Foundation (2017), the Jury Prize Biennale Weiertal, Winterthur (2017). 2020 they won the SAC (Swiss Alpin Club) Art Prize. The Gallery Luciano Fasciati Chur represents the artists since 2005. www.bardillgerber.ch

Fabian Gutscher (CH)
Fabian Gutscher is a musician and media artist. He studied at the Bern University of the Arts (until 2008), graduated in 2017 in transdisciplinarity. He was a guest lecturer at the Y-Institute of the HKB. Fabian performs live music using self-built digital interfaces and installations. He works as a composer and sound designer for film, dance and theatre. 2015 he participated in the transcultural programme of Connecting Spaces, Hong Kong. Founder of “Institute Movement”, 2016 he was a performer and musician at “Pretext Quartet” in cooperation with choreographer Ivanhoe Lam Chun Ho. His “Synchroniser Project” has been connecting walkers around the world since 2016. Between 2008 and 2014, he designed the soundscape for various theatre makers, including Lukas Bangerter, Mario Portmann, Nater/Glatthard/Bachmann and Bernhard Mikeska, and was a member of the formation pulp.noir. http://fabiangutscher.ch

Hanna Hölling (UK/CH)
Hanna B. Hölling is Associate Professor in the Department of History of Art, University College London, where she co-convenes the program History of Art, Materials and Technology. She is also Research Professor, Materiality in Art and Culture, at the University of the Arts Bern, leading research in the areas of her specialism. Her books include Paik’s Virtual Archive: Time, Change and Materiality on Media Art (University of California Press, 2017), Revisions–Zen for Film (Bard, 2015) and two anthologies The Explicit Material: Inquiries on the Intersection of Curatorial and Conservation Cultures (Brill 2019, with F. Bewer and K. Ammann) and Object—Event—Performance (New York: Bard Graduate Center, 2022). With Johannes M. Hedinger, she is the series editor and a co-editor of the first issue of Landscape. She is Head of Theory at ILEA and has been the Alps Art Academy core faculty since 2016. www.hannahoelling.com

Kaspar König (CH)
Kaspar König has been working as a freelance designer, composer and sound artist since his design degree at the UDK in Berlin in 2002 and his sound art and composition degree at the HfM in Mainz. His background as a designer and sound artist is visible and audible in his invented instruments and sound installations. www.kasparkoenig.com

Sascha Skraban (CH)
Born in Schaffhausen (CH). Trained chef. After several years in various Zurich restaurants and catering, Sascha has been managing the kitchen of the Berghotel Alpenblick in Tenna for more than 3 years. Since 2021 he is the general manager of the Berghotel Alpenblick.

HEAD

Johannes M. Hedinger (CH), Director, Overall management
Hedinger is a curator, art scholar, artist, author and lecturer. Director of the Institute for Land and Environmental Art (ILEA) and artistic director of the ART SAFIENTAL biennial. Studied art at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and University of Los Angeles (UCLA); studied art history at the University of Zurich and Humboldt University Berlin, postgraduate studies at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). Since 2006 lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), since 2010 lecturer at the University of Cologne. Hedinger is editor and author of: LANDSCAPE #1 (2020), What’s Next? Art after the Crisis (2013) and Lexicon on Contemporary Art (2010), Art, Public Space, Identity (2004). Recent curatorial work includes the Biennale Art Safiental (2016-present), Methods of Art (Ural Biennale 2015, Connecting Space Hong Kong 2015) and Point de Suisse (Museum für Geschichte Basel 2015). Hedinger’s artistic work became best known as part of the art collective Com&Com (with Marcus Gossolt). Participation in nine biennials (Venice, Shanghai, Singapore, Sharjah, Moscow, Ural, Turin), solo exhibitions at Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunstwerke Berlin and Knockdown Center New York, among others. www.johanneshedinger.com

Jolanda Rechsteiner (CH), Administrative management
qualified tourism specialist HF, has many years of professional experience in tourism and marketing. Since June 2012 she has been the managing director of Safiental Tourism and responsible for tourism development, with a focus on natural and cultural tourism in the Safiental. She is the operational manager of the Alps Art Academy and has coordinated the production of the installations of the Biennale Art Safiental since 2016.
www.safiental.ch/tourismus

Mirja Busch (D), Co-Director Program
is a visual artist and artistic researcher. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Fine Arts, Braunschweig (until 2006) and Art Theory and Art Practice in the Graduate programme at the Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile (2008-2009). Three-month research visit to the archive of the former CAVS at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2013) on Land and Environmental Art. Her artistic practice focuses on the materialization of the immaterial and the rendering of background phenomena, such as distilling theory or archiving puddles. Since 2017 she works in the program management and coordination of the ALPS ART ACADEMY, supports the ART SAFIENTAL and is involved in the development of the ILEA. www.mirjabusch.com

TEAM

Benedikt Joos (CH), Team
Benedikt was born and raised in the Naturpark Beverin. He is a qualified hotelier/restaurateur HF with several years of experience abroad and worked as an independent restaurateur from 2014 to 2019. Since 2019 he is project manager at Naturpark Beverin and since 2020 he is in charge of the administrative business of ILEA and Art Safiental biennial.

Urs Karli (CH), Team
Born in Basel, he studied biochemistry. 16 years he worked in the pharmaceutical industry (marketing and sales), 10 years as a hospital director. Professionally inactive for 3 years. Hobbies: paragliding and alpinism.

Lena Witschi (CH), Team
Grew up in Benin, Bern and Kyrigistan. Nov 21-Feb 22 Internship at a whale shark observation station in Mafia, Tanzania. Since Feburary intern at ILEA, Art Safiental and Alps Art Academy.