Exhibition 2007

The 2007 edition of Môtiers – Art en plein air stands out for its monumental works, which take powerful hold of the Val-de-Travers landscape. A giant human figure made of woven branches by Christoph Dräger illustrates the boldness of this year’s edition, marked by creations that transform the public space.

In 2007, the event affirmed its international outlook, while highlighting the work of Swiss artists who draw their inspiration from the region. They explore the tensions between nature, culture and tradition, provoking lively reactions from visitors and local residents alike.

This year is also notable for its use of private spaces and its close collaboration with the people of Môtiers. The village has become a veritable artistic laboratory, where poetry, criticism and experimentation meet at every street corner.

The poster is by Günther Förg, an internationally-renowned German artist who lives in part in Le Locle. A painter, photographer and sculptor, he has chosen watercolour to evoke an autumnal Môtiers, bathed in twilight. The letters float like sculptures in a free, poetic landscape.

This is in stark contrast to the work he exhibited that same year in Grande Rue: a rigorous, almost austere sculpture, reminiscent of Barnett Newman. This is Förg’s strength: playing with codes, blurring the lines. Critics described him as post-modern, and therefore unclassifiable.

Ill, he did not take part in the 2011 edition, but promised to return. In preparing the 2015 selection, we were saddened to discover that he had died a month earlier in Colombier, in the silence of the local media.