PONTRESINA CULTURA 2024

General information

Each object is accompanied by an information board, and you can scan the QR code to use your smartphone as a guide to the 26 locations. The exhibition guide, which is available free of charge from locations 1, 5, 15, 18, 20 and 23 and from Pontresina Tourist Information in the Convention and Event Centre Pontresina, contains information about the various installations. In the evenings, information about the Art Trails/Vias d’art and the artists is provided via an information monitor in the display window of Foto Flury next to the Convention and Event Centre Pontresina. Tip: while you are moving around the trail, you can use the Free WiFi Engadin network that offers free Internet access along Via Maistra. Download exhibition guide

How to get there

Bus/train

  • North: Engadin Bus stop: Schlossgarage; object 1 is located at the Weisses Kreuz hotel
  • Centre: Engadin Bus stop: Rondo or Punt Ota Sur; objects 7 to 12
  • South: Engadin Bus stop: Post; objects 25 to 20
  • Train station: RhB (Rhaetian Railway) stop; object 26

Car/parking

Parking spaces are available right next to the exhibition in the Rondo and Mulin public car parks or in the Bellavita Pool and Spa car park. How to find the Art Trails/Vias d’art 2017 exhibition in Pontresina

NB

Please note that two of the works of art can only be visited during opening hours: 

Location 8: Requiem für einen Gletscher (Requiem for a Glacier) by Arno Oehri inside the San Niculò village church (choir)

  • The church closes at 9 p.m.

Location 20: Ewigkeit (Eternity) by Gaudenz Signorell/Jos Schmid in the Stüva (living room) of the Alpine Museum Pontresina  

  • The museum is open from Monday to Saturday, 3.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Ewigkeit can be viewed free of charge. Entry to the rest of the museum costs CHF 8. If the museum is closed, see the information board or use your smartphone for information about the work of art.

Location 26: Saracens by Notta Caflisch at the Punt Ota bridge is a five-minute walk away from the route. As you come out of the village, follow the road towards the train station and turn right down the hill before you cross the bridge over the bypass. From here, you will see the Punt Ota. 

Seeing things ... through the eyes of a stranger

For this year’s exhibition, artists were asked to focus on the authentic and the genuine in the reality of today’s Engadin. The installations are the result of in-depth research into regional culture, for the most part in collaboration with experts. Distance helps us to see more clearly. The role of art is to study the essence of a thing and to make it visible and readable. It is a much greater challenge than simply answering the question “What makes a village unique, or what is typical of this region, or what sets it apart from all others?” And this is why the theme was to be used merely as a starting point, as a working title. 

The results are diverse and profound, and they reflect the reality of today. The works of art are a reflection, for example, of the loss of the basis of our existence – the soil, the permafrost and the glaciers – a representation of nature and traditions, the lives of Portuguese immigrant workers and, in contrast, the lives and legacy of past émigrés (known locally as randulins, often with the profession of confectioner). The works of art tackle the question of who has seen the Engadin through the eyes of a stranger, and who – despite varying perceptions – has found inspiration here.

The process involved in developing the 26 works of art was the same as it was 150 years ago, when artists, painters, poets, musicians and philosophers, as well as natural scientists and the first alpinists, saw the uniqueness of the Engadin, its villages and inhabitants ... through the eyes of a stranger, and made the valley’s inhabitants aware of a new authenticity and helped to attract visitors to the valley. The reality of the past, the austere mountain landscape, the rough soil, the harsh environment, the long winters – all of which made everyday life anything but easy. 

The Pontresina Art Trails 2017

Pontresina Cultura looks forward to welcoming you to Pontresina in summer 2017 and would like to wish you a memorable visit to the exhibition. The most important information at a glance:

  • The exhibition will be held from Saturday, 24 June, to Thursday, 19 October 2017.
  • Art Trails/Vias d’art is an open-air exhibition, and the objects can be viewed at any time.
  • Entry is free of charge. Donations are of course very welcome.
  • The 26 installations are located on Via Maistra. Download location map
  • The trail connecting all of the objects is approximately 1.6 kilometres long and takes around 1 to 2 hours. You can decide where to start your visit to the exhibition.
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