After six editions of Modern Nature, La Becque opens a new chapter in its public programme with a new research project exploring archives as living, embodied, and relational forms of transmission.

 

Developed by Vanessa Cimorelli, the project begins from the idea that certain histories survive not only through institutions or official archives, but through bodies, voices, music, rituals, and collective practices.

 

Rooted in the cultural landscapes of Southern Italy, this inaugural edition is developed in collaboration with Italian artist NZIRIA, together with Dario Biancullo and Jupi, members of KORYBASS, an artist-led collective founded in Naples in 2025. Together, they explore popular traditions, vernacular knowledge, and community-based forms of transmission that have long existed at the margins of dominant historical narratives.

 

Initially announced as a one-day event, the programme will now unfold over two days. Through a concert, a film screening followed by a discussion, a participatory workshop combining writing and textile printing, an installation of personal archives, and a DJ set, the project invites visitors to discover the traditions, rituals, and forms of sociability surrounding the femminielli, an ancient non-binary figure in Neapolitan culture, while approaching archives as living materials—sung, spoken, remembered, transformed, and shared.

 

Friday, July 3

7:30pm Doors open
8:30–9:30pm Concert by NZIRIA

 

Saturday, July 4

2–4pm Screening of Femmenell (Andrea Fortis, 2024, 76 min), followed by a discussion with the artists.

4:30–6:30pm Participatory workshop (registration required), conceived as a space for transmission and experimentation. Beginning with a conversation on the traditions, rituals, and forms of sociability surrounding the femminielli, participants will be invited to create texts, poetic fragments, or slogans, before translating them onto fabric through stencil printing. Each participant will leave with a collaboratively produced textile piece.

7–8pm NZIRIA DJ set / listening session

 

Throughout Saturday, an installation will inhabit the gardens of La Becque. Conceived as a space for consultation and exchange, it will bring together personal archives from the collective—including photographs, magazines, Polaroids, textiles, and documents—as starting points for conversation. Visitors are invited to browse the material, spend time with it, and engage in discussion with the artists.

 

Free admission. Workshop registration: info@labecque.ch. Bar and light refreshments on site.

 

La Becque’s public program is supported by the City of La Tour-de-Peilz, Loterie Romande, the Coromandel Foundation, the Philanthropique Famille Sandoz Foundation, and Pensimo Fondsleitung AG.

La Becque is pleased to invite you to a new session of Open Studios on Saturday, July 25, from 12 to 6 pm.

 

Throughout the afternoon, visitors are warmly invited to discover works in progress by our current residents: Alice Bucknell, Clemens Fischer, Drew McDowall, Mahshid Rafiei, Mira M. Yang, Puer Deorum, and Zoé Samudzi.

 

The event will also feature alfatih, Ana María Millán and Andrea Carrillo, participants in the binational fellowship Tender Mesh – An Adaptive Ecosystem of Complicities, a collaborative programme developed by Espacio Odeón, MSD and La Becque, and supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia through its Synergies grant program.

 

Open Studios offer a unique opportunity to delve into the artists’ ongoing research and engage with their practices.

 

Free entry, bar and food on site.

 

La Becque’s public program is supported by the City of La Tour-de-Peilz, Loterie Romande, the Coromandel Foundation, the Philanthropique Famille Sandoz Foundation, and Pensimo Fondsleitung AG.

La Becque, 2026, photo Matthieu Croizier