Stephan Kunz – författare

Wolfgang Laib (born 1950 in Germany) is considered to be one of the most important artists of today. His work is characterized by a profound relationship with nature and a declared belief in simplicity. Eastern philosophies from India have also shaped his life and his artistic practice since the 1970s. The artist continues today to concentrate on just a few cyclical groups of work.Ever since his journeys to India as a young man, Wolfgang Laib has been inspired by the idea of seeing humans as part of a larger whole. He also follows this way of life in his art: he tracks down the universal, the eternal, and works with natural materials such as pollen, rice, milk or bees wax.At the Bündner Kunstmuseum, he presents an extensive, room-sized installation made up of thousands of tiny rice mountains. An important foodstuff, rice symbolizes vitality and is fundamental for our earthly existence. The process of creating this work of art is revealed in the book and is related to a conversation between Wolfgang Laib and the internationally renowned Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. With this book, Wolfgang Laib reveals the spiritual dimension of art and leads us directly to the sources of his poetics.

Photographer and artist Andrea Garbald (1877–1958) dedicated an important part of his oeuvre to the women of his native Val Bregaglia, in the Swiss canton of Grisons. As the first and, for a long time, the only photographer in the valley, he ran his own photo studio in addition to an optician’s store in the village of Castasegna. Yet instead of making his artistic work public, Garbald kept his it in his attic. His estate was only discovered in the mid-1980s and displayed in public for the first time in 2014 in a major exhibition.Andrea Garbald’s portraits collected in this volume show women of different ages and social classes and go far beyond the stiff official portraits that were common at the time. The sitters’ posture, clothes, faces, and their eyes speak volumes: the photographs demonstrate a special intimacy and empathy towards the people portrayed. At the same time, they reveal the development of the medium and its visual language.This new book provides an in-depth look at Garbald’s unusual oeuvre and offers an insight into the subtle creativity of this local pioneer.Text in Italian and German.

Markus Raetz (1941–2020) is widely recognised as one of Switzerland’s most significant contemporary artists. His multifaceted oeuvre includes some 1,500 sculptures, installations, and objects. They are works that make us playfully aware of how strongly our perception of the world depends on the point of view we take.This bilingual French–German book, published in conjunction with a major Markus Raetz retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Bern in summer 2023, focuses on the artist’s objects and mobiles, most of which have only so far been sporadically on public display. Essays by curator Stephan Kunz and French art historian and curator Didier Semin explore this part of Raetz’s work and place it within the overall context of his art. These are complemented by images newly taken by Swiss photographer Alexander Jaquemet in Raetz’s preserved studio, thus providing a direct insight into the artist’s former working environment.Text in French and German.

German artist Susan Hefuna explores the interplay between place, time, and perception. Her practice encompasses drawing, photography, installation, video, and performance. Her art reflects the duality of public and private spaces and opens up new perspectives on subjective perceptions and realities. Hefuna’s works tell poetic stories of cities, landscapes, and cultural dialogues, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in her artistic world and perceive connections across boundaries.Susan Hefuna is published in conjunction with the artist’s first major exhibition in Switzerland. Produced in close collaboration with Hefuna, the book offers a survey of her multifaceted oeuvre to date. The essays are contributed by curator and critic Nat Muller, art historian Linda Schädler, curator William Wells, and by Stephan Kunz, the director of the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur. A conversation between Susan Hefuna and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist rounds out the volume.Text in English and German.

This book brings to life the artistic and literary community that flourished in Carona, Ticino, from 1968 to 1978. Centered on Swiss artist David Weiss (1946–2012) and his circle of friends, it explores their works, processes, and the communal spirit that fueled artistic experimentation. In the 1920s–30s, Carona attracted figures like Maria Braun, Hermann Hesse, Karl Hofer, Kurt Kläber, Niklaus Stoecklin, Lisa Tetzner, and Lisa Wenger. From 1968 to 1978, Casa Aprile became a gathering place for a new generation of artists and writers. This publication examines the utopian dreams, artistic vitality, and spirit of the era through the work of David Weiss, Esther Altorfer, Anton Bruhin, Maria Gregor, Penelope Margaret Mackworth-Praed, Matthyas Jenny, Urs Lüthi, Meret Oppenheim, Iwan Schumacher, Peter Schweri, and Willy Spiller. Through essays by peers, curators, and critics— drawing from archival materials and oral histories—the book illuminates the artistic community’s legacy, historical context, origins, and evolution while presenting new scholarly findings. The Dream of Casa Aprile reconstructs this collaborative network in a visually rich, playful way, capturing the period’s essence.With texts by Bice Curiger, Stephan Kunz, Virginia Marano, Andreas Schwab, and Stefan Zweifel, and a preface by Tobia Bezzola. Co-published with MASI Lugano in conjunction with the exhibition David Weiss. The Dream of Casa Aprile: Carona 1968–1978 (Sept 28, 2025–Feb 1, 2026). This publication is available in an Italian/German and an Italian/English edition.