Meet the artists optimistically exploring global energy

Be it kinetic, thermal, nuclear, or any other form, ‘energy’ is a deceptively diminutive word for a force that gives momentum to every aspect of our lives and beings and, essentially, makes modern civilisation possible. Elevation 1049 is an annual contemporary art exhibition held in and around the Swiss town of Gstaad. The theme of this year’s event is ‘Energies’ and the show brings together a range of artists working across many mediums whose practices all tap into different ideas relating to the production and consumption of energy, in the myriad forms that process takes. 

Here in this Alpine town, 1049 meters above sea level, the theme is pertinent in a very real and visible way. Annual snow cover duration has decreased by 38 days since 1970 due to climate change. The imperative to consider our fragile ecosystem is in evidence all around us, the majestic mountains are an ever-present reminder. 

Conceived of and produced by the Luma Foundation, this year – the sixth iteration of Elevation 1049  – is curated by guest curator Stefanie Hessler (Director of the Swiss Institute in New York) and features 14 artists including Theaster Gates, Himali Singh Soin, Liu Chuang and Maria Loizidou. Below, we meet four of the participating artists and find out more about the work they’ve contributed to Elevation 1049: Energies.

Considering the potential energy harnessed in batteries, Dutch artist Vibeke Mascini explores energy systems. “I’ve become really interested in how we think of a battery as a time capsule that harnesses energy from one source and one time and releases it elsewhere,” she explains during a walkthrough of the show. Her installation “Instar (6.9 kWh)” (2023) includes a battery powered by the combustion of cocaine confiscated by customs in the Netherlands to heat a radiator. “This is a long-term collaboration and conversation with customs who confiscate illegal items. I’ve come to reach an agreement where I bring this battery to the site of the destruction of cocaine, I charge the battery. I’ve become really interested in looking into these different sources of electricity and acknowledging the material implication of something that, like electricity, is itself immaterial.” 

Being able to touch this heat source and know where its energy derives from invites us to consider the utilities we take for granted, and the journey this energy has been on to produce this warmth. “I’m very curious to to think of this sort of fiction of a neutral electricity. We use electricity from our sockets as this seemingly neutral source, yet there are all these different material histories that flow into the electric grid,” she says. “I follow these different trajectories, harnessing these sources into batteries and releasing them into different installations. This project is, in some aspects, a sculpture and installation, but it’s very much a performance as well, within the logic and the spirit of energies which are constantly shape-shifting, constantly transforming, constantly transferring.”

Nina Canell and Robin Watkins’ video Energy Budget (2017-2024) considers the process by which female ostrich feathers are used to create a dust-free car environment in car manufacturing. Focusing on the majestic, intricately detailed feathers and their seemingly incongruous presence as part of the high-tech production line draws our attention to the electrostatic properties of the feathers and barely perceptible energy transactions that we are otherwise oblivious to. 

In a panel talk at the exhibition opening, Canell explains, “Robin and I have been very interested in how energy circulates in ways that are a little bit less tangible,“  “There are always these energy transactions in the background of our life and our work is about bringing that background into our awareness. Our film is looking at a super tiny electric charge and one of the common ways that we can all experience multiple energy transactions that are continuously transforming and happening – dust.” Watkins explains, “Dust is a super fascinating sculpture unit. All dust is positively charged, it’s also this very light, unintentional stuff that accumulates everywhere. Our common relationship to dust is to approach it as a problem.”

It is a problem in the decontaminated, highly-robotised environment in which cars are made. Despite advances, no other technology is as efficiently able to remove dust as female ostrich feathers. “It took a lot of acrobatics to be able to get to the position of actually stopping the quite relentless production of these vehicles to have access and to be able to control the speed of the production, Canell tells us. “Everything is filmed in real-time, and we slow down the track to be able to capture what actually happens in that interaction between ionizing water underneath the car, which traps dust as well, and the feathers which are the main protagonist in this process.”

Part installation, part sculpture, part healing device, Haroon Mirza’s “Oscillations for Caduceus” (2024) consists of a structure made from solar panels which store energy while also powering the artwork’s live sound component. This produces four specific but randomly played frequencies, and you can allow these frequencies pass through your body by sitting on the device. “Being exposed to light and sound at a frequency of 40 hertz has been shown to remove amyloid plaque build-ups from the brain, which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease,” Mirza explains, in conversation with other artists at the show’s opening. “The other frequency, 111 hertz, is a bit more obscure. It has this property where it sort of switches how the brain operates. So if you’re left-handed you use the right side of your brain, and vice versa, but when you’re exposed to 111 hertz, that flips over.”

There’s a mystical wisdom at play here. 111 is also a resonant frequency found in many neolithic and megalithic chambers across Northwest Europe. Mirza describes the ancient and indigenous knowledge and symbolism that informs this work and his wider practice: “In part, it‘s a response to Marriott Oppenheim’s “Hermes Fountain”, which is basically a sculpture of Caduceus, the staff carried by Hermes with two intertwined serpents on it. There’s an incredible book by Jeremy Nabi about the Asheninka people in the Amazon basin who work with Ayahuasca and their whole belief system is about a cosmic serpent who came to Earth and spawned life. It’s not dissimilar to panspermia ideas about an asteroid hitting the planet at some point and creating DNA. And this image of serpents intertwined is similar to the structure of DNA. So there are these somewhat esoteric references to medicine and healing relating back to these frequencies.”

Mirza reflects on “Oscillations for Caduceus” in relation to the other artworks on display at Elevation 1049: Energies: “It’s about becoming aware of that process of energy transfer. We know that energy is neither destroyed or created, it’s always a form of transfer. If you go up close [to “Oscillations for Caduceus”] you can you can hear it, you can see the speaker vibrating in relation to how much light the solar array is exposed to.”

Elevation 1049: Energies runs until March 16, 2025, in and around Gstaad, Switzerland. Visit the website here for details of venues.