Verbier 3-D Foundation

Founded in 2010 by New York-based artist Madeleine Paternot and Verbier-based artist Kiki Thompson, the pioneering organization creates an experimental and educational Artist Residency and Sculpture Park at an altitude of 2,300 meters, inspired by the stunning Alpine landscape of Verbier, Switzerland.
For the past 10 years, the Foundation has supported over 32 Swiss and International artists by offering a research-led residency that pushes artists out of their comfort zones, fostering development and new work that might not be possible in the studio space.

The residency programme has become an unrivaled incubator for artists to research contemporary art practices and the environment by offering a cross-disciplinary platform that enables creative dialogue with experts in various fields - from engineers, glaciologists, geologists and historians to diviners (dowsers), mountain guides, musicians, gurus and the public.

The selected artists are given a theme to utilize as a muse when starting their research. Topics such as the Anthropocene, Migration and Water inspire the pulse of the residencies and development of new work. Highlights include the exploration into underground bunkers In Search of Frankenstein with photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews, examining shifts in the Alps with surrealist Olaf Breuning and learning to Listen to a Changing Environment through eco acoustics with sound artist Philip Samartzis.

Each year, new thought-provoking work in the field of “Climate Research Art” is developed during the residency and exhibited in the Verbier 3-D Foundation Sculpture Park for a period of at least 2 years.

The Sculpture Park, open year round, is a 3km mountain walk of an evolving display of multimedia works developed in situ.

Visitors of all ages have the opportunity to access artists’ research and further learn about the crossroads between climate, knowledge and art in the alpine environment the work was inspired from.

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