Launched in 2019, Modern Nature is a public program paying tribute to English filmmaker, writer, activist, and gardener Derek Jarman. Inspired by his life and his iconic Prospect Cottage garden in Dungeness, the event explores intersections between ecology, transmission, experimental artistic practices, and queer thought. Each year, Swiss and international artists are invited to create performances, installations, screenings, and sound interventions designed for La Becque’s gardens on the shores of Lake Geneva.

 

The 2025 edition draws inspiration from Jarman’s only known work of short fiction, Through the Billboard Promised Land Without Ever Stopping—a poetic, surreal road story that blurs memory, prophecy, and drift. Curated by Vanessa Cimorelli, this year’s program features works that feel like transmissions from liminal zones: ghost frequencies, sonic mirages, flickering signals.

 

Program
15:00 Welcome words from Luc Meier and Vanessa Cimorelli
15:30 Will Ballantyne-Reid – An Echo, a Dream, a Story (conversation with Vanessa Cimorelli)
17:00 Erell Le Pape & Loréleï Nelle – Trembleuments, ou Derek dans la baleine (performance)
18:30 Damsel Elysium – Ballet for Instruments (performance)
20:00 Nkisi & Tiran Willemse – A Work in Process (performance)
21:00 Aho Ssan & ASIA – 100 Soleils (concert)
22:15 Time is Away – It Happened by Chance (performance)

 

Ongoing
Time is Away – It Happened by Chance (installation)
Adrien Chevalley* – Cailloux; Chapeaux (sculptures)
Anne-Laure Franchette* – Grands Travaux Urbains (sculptures)
Julie Monot* – Invoke to Evoke (sculptures)
Alexander Tucker* – Mutant I, II, III (sculptures)
Prem Sahib* – Single Purple Column (sculpture)
*works installed for previous editions of Modern Nature

 

The event is free and open to everyone. On-site bar and food by Céleste (Vevey). No parking available at La Becque — please use public transportation or the Remparts Parking in La Tour-de-Peilz.

Modern Nature, La Becque, 2024, photo Julien Gremaud

La Becque is pleased to invite you to the summer session of the traditional Open Studios on Saturday, July 26 from noon to 6 pm. During this open day, the residents will exceptionally open the doors of their studios and apartments for presentations of their current projects.

 

Come discover the work of Amor Muñoz, alfatih, Loucia Carlier, Diambe, Invernomuto, Phoenix Atala, Sorour Darabi and Gary Zhexi Zhang, and enjoy installations and performances created especially for this event.

 

A unique opportunity to meet these artists and share a moment around a drink and some food.

 

The event is free and open to all. No parking on site, please use public transport or the Parking des Remparts in La Tour-de-Peilz.

La Becque turns 5, 2024, photo Emilien Itim