Thinking and drawing landscapes

Secluded and hidden among the mighty Swiss mountains, artists have the opportunity to enjoy an extraordinary working stay: since 2014, the Kunstdepot Göschenen foundation, established by art collector Christoph Hürlimann, has been housed in a converted armory, which accommodates the works in the collection as well as study rooms and four large communal artist studios. Artists must be nominated by the program's jury for a one- or two-month residency. Preference is given to artistic positions that deal with themes of nature and its use by humans. Working in the middle of the Alps also requires a certain degree of willingness to work in seclusion, away from cultural centers.

Artist Christiane Fleissner from the Art.Salon artist program took part in the Artist Residency for the second time in September 2025, following her first stay in 2024. She had originally presented her climbing art project About a Moment, which she began in 2019 and expanded during her time in Göschenen, inspired by the region's unique mountain and glacier landscape. During her second stay in 2025, Fleissner continued working on the large-format piece Kopf ohne Welt (Head without World), which is part of the About a Moment project and was inspired by her impressions from her first stay. She also created initial drafts for an idea that the artist may develop into her next project: In Organic Ornaments, she highlights similarities in the growth structures of plants and the interior of the human body.

A special feature of the program is the opportunity for intensive exchange with related positions of other artists. In 2024, Fleissner met Austrian artist Maria Bussmann, who, like Fleissner, was invited for a second residency in September 2025. Swiss artists Othmar Eder and Sandra Böschenstein were also on site this time. Drawing plays a crucial role in the work of all four artists; they are planning a joint exhibition on this theme, which could also reflect the influences of the dialogue during the artist residency. They have been invited to return to Göschenen for another joint residency in 2027.

Maria Bussmann and Christiane Fleissner have already exhibited together: last November, they presented several works with Herbert Nauderer in the drawing exhibition ZWISCHEN-WELTEN (Between Worlds). The exhibition was shown at the Fleissner Studio, which Christiane Fleissner founded in 2024 together with Marion Kamm and Sibylle Omlin. It is located in the artist's parents' house, originally a Pfadererhaus built in 1588, in Antdorf in Upper Bavaria, not far from Munich. Fleissner has already presented works from the Organic Ornaments series in ZWISCHEN-WELTEN.

The Fleissner Studio offers contemporary artists from the wider region a stage and promotes exchange between artists. In addition to two art exhibitions per year, the studio also organizes lectures, workshops, and concerts.

In the fall of 2026, the studio plans to continue the Landscape Dialogues symposium, in which Christiane Fleissner participated in the spring of 2025.

Landscape Dialogues is a project that evolved from the exhibition Embodied Landscape, curated by Sibylle Omlin in 2023 at Villa Renata in Basel. Six artists from Switzerland and Germany were invited to Dithmarschen in April 2025 to explore nature in transition and under the influence of human activity: landscape formation through the tides, through drainage and rewetting of moors can be observed. The focus is on water in its many forms, which can be both the basis of life and a threat to it.

Inspired by the flat landscape, the participating artists, who have artistic and personal connections to nature and agriculture, produced numerous sketches, photographs, and texts. Christiane Fleissner, who has also been a beekeeper since 2014, and the other artists want to explore the Alpine foothills, which contrast with Dithmarschen, at the second symposium in Antdorf and bring together the insights from both events in an exhibition in 2027.

One of the aims of the artists participating in the symposium is to engage intensively with the respective exhibition venues and create site-specific installations and performances. This promises to be a new and interesting chapter in the history of the wooden house that houses the Fleissner studio.