Start
The exhibition
The Tal Museum Engelberg is presenting a group exhibition of contemporary art by artists with a connection to Central Switzerland. The selected works – from sculptures and paintings to video works – address themes such as mountains, landscape, architecture and society. The exhibition surprises with a variety of media and invites visitors to enter into an open dialog with the art. It brings contemporary art to life for the public – sensually, critically and full of perspectives.
Artists:
OLIVIA ABÄCHERLI
FRANZ BUCHER
HELEN EGGENSCHWILER
KATRIN KELLER
MATTEO LAFFRANCHI
ROCHUS LUSSI
MICHAEL SCHERER
HANS VERLAG
MARIA ZGRAGGEN
The entrance
Michael Scherer
Michael Scherer (*1978 in Sursee, lives and works in Lucerne) presents a selection of his current photographic works at the Tal Museum Engelberg with a reduced visual language and a fine sense for slightly shifted everyday situations. Influenced by his studies in electrical engineering and his many years working in industry, he brings an engineering-like precision to his image compositions and their presentation – clear, structured and well thought out. But behind the sober surface lies a subtle dose of humor: Scherer’s style is evident in his playful approach to the familiar, the charming irritation of seemingly banal moments and a tongue-in-cheek view of the world.
Entrance area Sideways, 2018 Fine Art Pigment Print on Hahnemühle paper, frame gray matt lacquered, artglass™ (UV protection)
The passageway
Different artists
On the left you can see works by (almost) all the artists shown in the exhibition.
These are small-format works.
On the right-hand side you can see a video by the artist Olivia Abächerli.
The passageway
Video from Olivia Abächerli
Olivia Abächerli (*1992 in Stans NW, grew up in Kerns OW, lives and works in Bern) works with drawing and video. She explores connections (or contradictions) between the personal and the political. Through daily writing and drawing, Olivia Abächerli documents global events such as de-democratization, genocides, wars and the climate crisis. She contextualizes her personal everyday life within this global situation. This creates references, but also often stark contrasts to the horrors of these events.
In the first part of the video, we see discussions with her sister, a political philosopher and officer in the Swiss army, who represents other political views. They talk about the processes of de-democratization and ask about possible courses of action. The images flicker visually, become distorted and merge with their surroundings. In the second part (“my crying echoes your pain”) we see repeated movements of political collectives from the table to the street.
Video work in the tunnel:
To witness is the same thing as to breathe (to do it once is not enough), 2025, Full HD, stereo, loop, 15’20“, conversation with Simona Abächerli. Soundtrack “Birth” by David Koch.
Ground Floor
Paintings of mountains
Helen Eggenschwiler (*1992 in Uster ZH, lives and works in Kriens LU)
combines digital photography with analog printing techniques in her artistic work. The focus is on transfer printing, which she has appropriated as an experimental means of expression. By manually transferring photographs onto paper or canvas and deliberately superimposing several image layers, she creates multi-layered, atmospherically dense compositions. In terms of motifs, Helen Eggenschwiler was inspired by the Engelberg region for the portrait-format series of works – certain mountains, valleys and meadows can be recognized in the works. The landscape-format works on the 2nd floor were created in various locations.
First floor, wall next to relief (from left to right)
Sonnengoldene Höhen, 2025 / Am Ufer – schwerelos über den Gipfeln, 2025
Im Licht der Stille, 2025 / Vom Schattentraum und Sonnenlicht, 2025
Transfer print on canvas
CHF 1,300 each
By the stairs
Sculptures
Rochus Lussi (*1956 in Stans, lives and works in Stans NW). At the entrance to the stairwell, we are greeted by a wooden door knocker by Rochus Lussi – shaped like a cow’s tail. The work plays with the symbolic function of the door as a threshold between inside and outside, protection and opening. Lussi addresses the tension between vulnerability and defensiveness: whoever knocks announces themselves – but whether we open the door depends on what we expect. The door knocker invites us to confront this ambivalence – and to activate it ourselves. While the curator has placed a loaf of bread on the second floor, an intuitively placed selection of trophies – wildly mixed animal horns from the southern hemisphere (desert buck, bushbuck) and northern hemisphere (ibex, cow) – are formed on the top floor.
Entrance staircase first floor
Door knocker, 2020, wood, painted
CHF 5,200
Bread, 2023, wood, baked
CHF 270
First Floor
Paintings by Shannon Zwicker
Shannon Zwicker (*1992 in Igis GR, lives and works in Zurich)
In her series of works, Shannon Zwicker shows colorful, delicate watercolor drawings that comment on and complement each other as a coherent series. Her semi-abstract, poetic visual language is created in the field of tension between personal experience and social attribution. Her watercolors unfold multi-layered worlds of color, sometimes fleeting like a memory, sometimes profound like a train of thought. The interplay between shapes and colors is balanced: sometimes they gently play around each other, sometimes they push each other to the edge. Color gradients and lines condense into fragments of bodies or dissolve into pure atmosphere.
1. Floor (from left to right)
Snuggly, watercolor on paper, 2020
Ease, watercolor on paper, 2022
Daydreaming, watercolor, ink on paper, 2022
Bites, watercolor on paper, 2021
Tickeling Tongue, watercolor, ink on paper, 2021
Sticky, watercolor, colored pencil, mother-of-pearl on paper, 2022
Midnight Thoughts, watercolor on paper, 2022
Lick Me, watercolor, colored pencil on paper, 2020
Feeling Flirty, watercolor on paper, 2021
800 each incl. frame (waxed oak wood, UV glass)
First Floor
Statue on the floor
Matteo Laffranchi (*1965 in Contone TI, lives in Zurich and works in Lucerne) constructs structures through manual processes that like to revive residual and raw materials in a new suggestive reality. Waste paper and cardboard, plant fibers, found wood, ashes and coal from campfires, collected rocks as well as traditional and self-produced pigments and binding agents serve as the material basis. Through meticulous craftsmanship, the materials used give the objects and their surfaces their distinctive character. For the Next Stop Engelberg exhibition, works were chosen that have a connection to the Alpine region, a rural animistic feel or imagery characterized by tourism. The poetic moment, the additive narrative design gradually define the unique pieces and ensembles, which open-heartedly invite contemplation and daydreaming.
On the floor:
Letschjen (El perro), 2016
Cardboard, plaster, charcoal
CHF 3,800
First Floor
Photographs on the wall
By Michael Scherer
Happy ends, Die Freiheit, Schiffsbrand 2025
Fine Art Print on baryta paper silk gloss, frame raw oak, artglass™ (UV protection)
CHF 350*/ CHF 500, 1/6
*Special price for the first of six pictures. Subsequent surcharge of CHF 150 / Prices are only valid during the exhibition.
First Floor
Figures on the wall
By Matteo Laffranchi
Marmitta, 2020
Cardboard, plaster, various binders, pigments
CHF 2,500
First Floor
Figures on the wall
By Matteo Laffranchi
Cumulonembo, 2013
Chestnut tree root, fabric
CHF 1’200
Gentle avalanche slope, 2010
Newspaper sticks, cotton,
Cement, plaster, glue, CHF 900
Wooden star, 2020
Wood, plaster, various binders, pigments
CHF 2,000
First Floor
Figures on the wall
By Matteo Laffranchi
Folding, 2013
Newspaper rods, pressboard, linen cloth,
various binders, glue, sand, pigments
CHF 1,300
First Floor
Figure by the elevator
By Matteo Laffranchi
un cuore quieto (Ex Voto), 2016
MDF, paper, plaster, various binders, pigments
CHF 1,600
First Floor
Ear Plugs on the floor
Katrin Keller (*1985 in Flawil SG, grew up in Herisau AR, lives and works in Lucerne). The two-part work Lumps of Silence is based on real Oropax wax earplugs, which become the starting point for an artistic transformation. Katrin Keller digitally enlarged each of these elements and then recreated them using a 3D printer. The printed models were turned into hard-shell negatives, which in turn served as molds to cast the final objects out of pink silicone. In this way, an everyday object is transformed into oversized, sensual sculptures that simultaneously radiate familiarity and strangeness.
Lumps of silence, 2024
Silicone
CHF 10,500
First Floor
Pictures on the wall
Maria Zgraggen (*1957 in Schattdorf UR, lives and works in Bürglen UR)
transforms her gestural-abstract paintings into powerful wooden cubes – compact blocks that she covers with numerous layers of liquid paint in a process-like procedure. The masses of paint flow over all sides, are deposited, form edges, borders and sediments. In her works, color is no longer just a surface, but a physical substance – an expression of energy, rhythm and density.
In the exhibition, the cubes are presented on the wall in a loose, intuitive, yet condensed arrangement. A visual field of references, contrasts and transitions is created between the individual objects – a vibrant dynamic that is carried by the intense color spectrum. In this way, the individual cubes condense into a breathing whole that both permeates and structures the space.
untitled, 2025
Acrylic paint on wood
CHF 1,500 each
Second Floor
Staircase
By Michael Scherer
La Camelia, 2020
Lambda Print, Fujicolor Crystal Archive glossy, frame raw oak,
artglass™ (UV protection)
Price: CHF 600, 10/10 (last copy)
Second Floor
Installation with two stools
HANS Verlag
Founded in 2018 by Heinz Anderhalden, HANS-Verlag publishes magazines on art, design, architecture and photography – with a focus on Central Switzerland, but also with national and international projects. Without a fixed plan, the independent magazine tends to follow desire and chance, supported by personal initiative and voluntary commitment. This flexible approach makes it possible to capture the special magic of each project. For the exhibition in Engelberg, the publishing house is publishing its own production for the first time – an exciting novelty that continues the open path into the future.
The new issue of Brutalism in the Alps and the previous HANS magazines are available in the museum store during the exhibition.
Price per magazine: CHF 15
Second Floor
Figures on the wall
By Matteo Laffranchi
(from left to right)
Katzenjammer, 2016
Cardboard, wood, aluminum rod, paper putty, moss,
binder, pigments
CHF 2’300
Sur la voie de Bellelay, 2011
Pressboard, earth, silicate binder
CHF 2,100
Puddle of gold, 2025
Wood, cardboard, cotton, plaster, various binders,
collected earth, gold leaf
CHF 3,200
Second Floor
Photographs
By Michael Scherer
(from left to right)
Ghost Sports, Fiat Lux, Forest Digest , 2025
Fine art print on semi-gloss baryta paper, raw oak frame, artglass™ (UV protection)
CHF 350* / CHF 500, 1/6
*Special price for the first of six images. Subsequent surcharge of CHF 150 / Prices are only valid during the exhibition.
Second Floor
In the room
Franz Bucher’s (*1940 in Sarnen OW, attended the Sarnen schools and the St. Michael College in Zug, lives and works in Horw LU and Wilen OW) series of works is dedicated to the glaciers and rock formations of the Engelberg Alps. In powerful, atmospherically condensed images, he explores the landscape around the Titlis area – a region characterized by natural beauty, but also by visible change due to climate change. On the top floor, Franz Bucher presents four different techniques, all of which are based on the same motif: Woodcut printing plates, their imprints, frottages and drawings of the glaciers. Franz Bucher is not interested in a true-to-life reproduction, but in a painterly capture of time, movement and change in the mountains.
on the wooden wall (from left to right)
Two works side by side: Glacier Signs (Titlis) I and II, 2020
Abrasion print, lead on paper, unique
CHF 1,500 each incl. frame
Two works side by side: Glacier signs (Titlis) I and II, 2019/2023
Woodcut on cardboard, edition of 1/4
Each CHF 1,500 incl. frame
Two works side by side: Magical fields (Titlis) II and I, 2019/2023
Woodcut on cardboard, edition of 1/4
CHF 1,200 each incl. frame
Second Floor
On the rear wall
By Rochus Lussi
Trophies, 2019
Painted wood, 39 pieces
CHF 270 each
