Young Swiss build a new cultural bridge between Switzerland and Venice

What connects Venice and Switzerland, two worlds seemingly so far apart? The water, first of all, the greenish one of the lagoon which, to the northwest, looks out and embraces the blue waters of the lakes and rivers of the Swiss valleys.

It is to this link that the green and blue of the painting by Elisabetta Agrelli, one of the artists participating in the “Artists’ Residency” organized by the Union of Young Swiss People (UGS), refer.

Diversity and complementarity

From September 6 to 8, three young painters selected by the UGS gathered at the “Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi”, an outpost of Swiss culture in the city of the Doges, to express themselves on the theme “Happy Islands: Venice and Switzerland, interconnected worlds.

“We selected the artists based on their background, but above all on their ability to express diversity and complementarity,” explains the president of the UGS, Raffaele Sermoneta. We wanted interdisciplinary artists to achieve a heterogeneous result, and we got it.”

Elisabetta Agrelli, who was born and raised in Naples, comes from a family of artists: grandparents who were painters, an art foundry in the family and a great-great-grandfather who emigrated from Sent , in the Lower Engadine, in Naples, where it all began. Filippo Gori Knöpfli, whose father is from Tuscany and mother from Winterthur, attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and would like to make it his career. Nathaniel Cartier was born in Paris and lives in Edinburgh, but spent most of his life in Zug.

The happy islands are therefore also their stories of Swiss people living or born elsewhere, custodians of different cultures and influences, but deeply attached to their homeland.

Reference set

Each of them painted the two canvases they had on Saturday September 7th. Elisabetta Agrelli and Filippo Gori Knöpfli preferred the large, bright room of the Palazzo Trevisan, which overlooks the bustle of boats and ferries in the Giudecca canal, while Nathaniel Cartier placed his easel along the canal, facing the the church of San Trovaso, and painted the outdoor scene, including some passers-by, in a painting with impressionist accents.

The second painting by Nathaniel Cartier, for its part, offers a glimpse of the days of the three artists in the hall of the Palais Trevisan, busy painting while the Wasserturm (Water Tower) of Lucerne appears before them on the canal of the Giudecca, in a play of references between Switzerland and the city of the Doges.

Once again the mixture of cultures with William Tell on the monuments of Venice.

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In “Mondo riflesso – Parte uno” (Reflected world – part one), Elisabetta Agrelli used silver to evoke a mirror, a separation between the mountainous landscape and the lagoon, while Filippo Gori Knöpfli represented William Tell in the first canvas, the Swiss flag in hand, sitting on a bridge in Venice, associating Swiss mythology with the architecture of La Serenissima; while in the other work, two black silhouettes, Venice and Switzerland, are connected by a rope (the bridge) with mouths and eyes (Swiss and Venetian) joined by a red thread in the background.

On Sunday September 8 in the morning, the Trevisan Palace hosted the final meeting of the event, with the presentation of the artists and works to the public and representatives of the institutions, such as the honorary consul Leo Schubert, Nicolò Solimano, member of the Swiss liaison in Italy and the Organization of the Swiss Abroad, and Jacqueline Wolf, coordinator of the Palais Trevisan. The ceremony was followed by the presentation of participation certificates to the artists.

An “unforgivable mistake”

It is undeniable that the location of the Palais Trevisan was decisive for the success and effectiveness of the event, which reminds us that in just over a year, one of the most important showcases of Swiss culture abroad will close its doors. The Swiss Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia has announced that it will cease its activities in the Venetian location from 2026, and there is also talk of selling this prestigious building, owned by the Confederation (but this second point seems more uncertain).

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According to many figures from the world of culture and politics, the abandonment of the building by Pro Helvetia would be “an unforgivable mistake”. Even if the tone is less clear-cut, the members of the UGS agree: “Now that the consulate in Venice is only honorary, the promotion of Swiss culture abroad is its main activity and have of such a beautiful space, in such a prestigious area of ​​Venice, is a great opportunity, because Palazzo Trevisan is an incubator and the events organized there have a unique impact and circulation”, underlines Niccolò Francesco Campana, vice-president. president of the UGS.

Text translated from Italian using DeepL/op

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