Alpine Signals» is an unusual portrait of the Alps, based on twentysix cell towers in the Engadin, a high valley in the south east part of Switzerland. The artist Thomas Kneubühler challenges the romantic image of the Alps with the non-lieux of the mountain world, and goes to places that are usually not a destination. «Alpine Signals» touches on important issues, such as our relationship with nature and landscape asking: how much data do we need, even in the remote mountain world?
The photographs are accompanied by two texts. The author Romana Ganzoni, who lives in the Engadin, invites us on a breathtaking antenna hike, and debunks a number of Alpine clichés in the process. The Canadian writer Rebecca Duclos visits the Alps in a dream. In her hybrid text, she reflects on the paradox of images and encounters which are at once sublime and banal.
Alpine Signals – Twentysix Cell Towers in the Engadin
Text: Romana Ganzoni, Rebecca Duclos
Hardcover, 88 pages, 26 x 20.5 cm
English/German/French
VfmK Verlag für moderne Kunst, Vienna, 2021
$38 CAN
Thomas Kneubühler uses photography and video to examine complex socio-political issues. His work is based on extensive research, including fieldwork in sometimes remote locations or in places where access is restricted. Addressing questions of power, the exploitation of natural resources or the effects of new technology on society, his work has been presented in exhibitions and screenings in both Europe and North America. He received the Swiss Art Award in 2012, and was a research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2018. He lives and works in Montreal, sometimes in Basel, and visits the Alps on a regular basis.