ALP- Sommerlaboratory

The days we spent together were memorable, surprising, fulfilling, and unforgettable for everyone involved. In those moments on the Morteratsch Glacier, in the marshlands around Lej da Staz, on Lake St. Moritz, and in the presence of the mountains that constantly surrounded and embraced us, meaningful, serious, critical, funny, surprising, and always welcome ideas came to life for something that, at first, was just an idea floating in the air:

ALP—a summer lab, a camp by the lake in St. Moritz, an experiment in community. It all began with the question: What happens when we have time—time for one another, with one another, and above all, time at leisure—that is, without a plan, without rules, and without pressure to produce results—to use this time together, perhaps not to reinvent the world, but to question it —to turn the world upside down, to listen to the quiet sounds and tune out the loud ones, to question ourselves, and—as we glide together through the water and slide across the ice—to rediscover that we don’t have to produce anything and yet still create something that only comes alive through sharing and unfolds its power therein.

The experiment was a success—and more than that: all expectations—which, of course, didn’t really exist, so perhaps it’s better to say “hopes”—those hopes were more than fulfilled. There were beautiful moments, conversations, movements, and a shared way of thinking in motion—things for which there is far too little room in the well-ordered structures of universities, academies, studios, or offices.

Here, we’re sharing our impressions with you—in images and short texts that emerged and evolved over the course of the week. Everything we’re sharing here comes from all of us (with one exception: the poems include credits).

Piet Baumgartner, Moritz Becker, Chun Chen, Mareike Dittmer, Deborah Fischer, Giovanna Frey, Fabian Gutscher, Johannes M. Hedinger, Sara Masüger, Finn Meuli, Maya Minder, Zora Moll, Margreth Steger, Nelly Steib, Jan Verwoert