From an initial affinity for writing and storytelling, Mai-Thu Perret works across ceramics, installation, film, sculpture, painting, and textiles, multiplying references — from 20th-century avant-garde movements to Eastern philosophies — while merging methodologies. In conversation with Sarah Burkhalter for the On Words collection, she discusses, among other things, her fascination with paratext and her delight in the unpredictability of glazing. She also reflects on the artistic and intellectual means of integrating the role of motherhood into the discourse on art.

 

On Words is a series of interviews with contemporary women artists co-published by SIK-ISEA and Scheidegger & Spiess. On the occasion of the publication of Volume 6, Isabelle Cornaro Pauline Julier and Latifa Echakhch join Mai-Thu Perret for a discussion on artists’ speech and the ways of documenting it — a topic that also resonates with the artists currently in residence at La Becque.

 

Programme: Welcome by Luc Meier (Director of La Becque), presentation of the book by Sarah Burkhalter (Head of the French-speaking office of SIK-ISEA), roundtable discussion with Mai-Thu Perret, Isabelle Cornaro, Pauline Julier and Latifa Echakhch, moderated by Julie Enckell (art historian and co-director of the On Words collection), with contributions from Vanessa Cimorelli (curator at La Becque), followed by an apéritif.

 

Registration via isea@sik-isea.ch. Places are limited and admission is free. Photographs will be taken during the event and used for SIK-ISEA’s communication purposes.

Mai-Thu Perret, ‘Underworld’, 2024, photo On White Wall Studio, courtesy David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles and New York

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 & Sahej Rahal, Clémens Fischer, Drew McDowall, Mahshid Rafiei, Mira Mann, Puer Deorum, and Zoé Samudzi.

 

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