Also this year, the link between St. Moritz Art Masters and art photography is renewed through exhibitions, workshops, film screenings and artist talks with the most important personalities of this art. From 23 August to 1 September 2013 is scheduled sixth edition of St. Moritz Art Masters, the festival dedicated to contemporary art conceived by Monty Shadow and curated by Reiner Opoku, which “transformed – as Opoku himself states – the late summer of this region into a late summer of art”.
One of the most awaited moments by the public will be the exhibition, entitled Emotional Stories, scheduled at the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains in St. Moritz Bad, curated by Amedeo M. Turello, which will analyze the themes faced by great contemporary photography, comparing them with those expressed by artists from China, the host country of this edition.
The exhibition itinerary revolves around the images of Liu Heung Shing (1951), winner of the Pulitzer Prize, which will witness the development of photojournalism in China from the Cultural Revolution to the present day, and will compare itself with the work of international photography stars, such as Patrick Demarchelier, Bruno Ehrs, Hans Georg Esch, Mimmo Jodice, Peter Lindbergh, Steve McCurry, Joel Meyerowitz, Paolo Solari Bozzi.
Through the work of these artists, it is documented how photography has become a narrative medium, capable of describing particular historical events or moments of everyday life. These masters are able to reproduce in a single image, whether it be intimate moments or particularly significant landscapes, a series of emotions as if they were stills from a cinematographic film. Visitors will be brought into contact with the evocative power of images. The narrative power of the medium will produce moments of meditation, stimulated by the leading exponents of world photography.
At the Hotel Suvretta House in St. Moritz Suvretta, there will be a solo show dedicated to Chen Fuli's shots who will present a poetic point of view on the cultural tradition of his country. Amedeo M.Turello and other famous photographers will animate a workshop on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 August in which portrait, figurative and fashion photography will be discussed, offering participants the extraordinary opportunity to observe the artists at work. The aim is that each student can broaden their expectations of the medium. During the two days of the workshop, the constant presence of photographers is ensured.
The Engadin has always attracted and inspired artists, screenwriters, writers and philosophers. The goal of the St. Moritz Art Masters is to retrace this story, connecting a vast territory that extends from St. Moritz throughout the Engadine, combining local traditions with the suggestions of international culture. It is no coincidence that the guest nation of honor at the St. Moritz Art Masters 2013 is China.
The Asian country is experiencing a very lively artistic season which, starting from its millenary traditions, opens up to the experiences of other countries. St. Moritz Art Masters will take a closer look at the artistic development of a country, which for most Westerners remains a mystery. At St. Moritz Art Masters 2013 you will find the works of promising young artists from the city of Chongqing, rich in academic traditions and located in the province of Sichuan, in southwestern China, alongside those of award-winning artistic personalities or recognized precursors such as Ai Weiwei and Fang Lijun; from photojournalist Liu Heung Shing to charming art photographer Chen Fuli, whose imaginative works border on painting, from the singular visual language of Shao Fan's paintings, to the neon lights of Su-Mei Tse, Golden Lion at Venice Biennale 2003.
In this way, the visitor to the St. Moritz Art Masters will be able to appreciate a very varied and genuine overview of the most current art and the new society established in the People's Republic of China. For ten days, over 30 locations, including museums, galleries, luxury hotels and the open spaces of St. Moritz and the Engadine will host solo and group exhibitions – all free – of great artists of our time. The itinerary opens from the center of St. Moritz Dorf with the bronze sculptures of the American artist Donald Baechler (Hotel Badrutt's Palace), continuing with the giant chairs of the French Sébastien de Ganay (Hotel Kulm), and with three humorous works in steel by the Swiss Olaf Breuning, arranged in the pedestrian center of St. Moritz.
In the French church of St. Moritz (Piazza Paracelsus), Robert Wilson, one of the most complex and interesting American artistic personalities, will exhibit Snowly Owl, a video installation, made up of some digital tableaux-vivant that reproduce owls, apparently static but which come alive suddenly in front of the viewer.
