danielle rosales

voyages entre les langues
reisen zwischen den sprachen
viaggi tra le lingue
viedis traunter las linguas

graphic installation of multilingual works in the publik space of switzerland

artisticc direction
ruedi baur, vera baur, karelle ménine

poetic direction
karelle ménine and andré heiz

commission
50th anniversary of the oertli foundation

coordination
danielle rosales
annouck fenech
emmanuelle guerry

calligraphs
danielle rosales
eddy terki
afrouz razavi
odyssée khorsandian
Iona Suzuki
renaud fouchet
medicis

traveling between languages is a project by ruedi baur, vera baur (civic city) and karelle ménine, initiated by the oertli foundation. As part of the 50th anniversary of the Oertli Foundation, I worked with the civic city network to develop the project — a graphic installation of multilingual works in public space that was intended to highlight Switzerland's unique wealth of languages. In order to fulfill this wish and the contemporary challenge it posed, we decided to work on the basis of the Swiss literary heritage and to integrate it into the public space. A gesture that has been carried out by hand by calligraphers and type painters. This legacy is made up of masterly texts, written by authors born in Switzerland or are from other countries, but who live in Swiss cities or valleys. Literature is a dialogue, and its multilingual Site is particularly strong here in Switzerland. Each participating city was invited to offer a public space that could accommodate graphic compositions - which we create and implement - in order to make this special capital visible. Walls, sidewalks, facades, squares, benches ... in a street, a city center, a district ... became the bearers of this "investigative work" and the literary and graphic creation on site, symbolizing the strength of multilingualism. In a total of six Swiss cities, literature and languages mix and travel through the public space in various forms and typographies.