For Seasons

For Seasons is a quarterly collection-oriented project space set up by artists and partners Louisa Gagliardi and Adam Cruces. For each season of the year, they invite a different artist to respond to the parameters of the project with a single piece. Those parameters being that the exhibition space is a specific wall in their living room.

Words by James Ambrose

Yan Xinyue, Late Night Out #3, 2020
Oil on lightbox
40 x 30 x 8 cm.
Winter 2021

For Seasons is an ongoing art project, set up in 2018 by artists and partners Louisa Gagliardi and Adam Cruces. The concept for the project they explain, “is a quarterly collection-oriented project space. We invite a different artist for each season of the year to respond to the parameters of the project with a single piece. Those parameters being that the exhibition space is a specific wall in our living room. Each work is displayed for three months, comes with a certificate of authenticity, cannot be time-based, and remains part of the For Seasons permanent collection. There are no opening or closing events nor regular opening hours. Anyone who wants to visit has to make an appointment. The artists are free to react to those conditions how they prefer. Our aim is not to ‘purchase’ an artwork, the intent is rather to invest in a response to the given structure.”

 “Each work that’s on display feels like having a houseguest for three months. (…) The presence of the work becomes such a part of the everyday routine; working, eating meals, socialising, etc. Every piece is essentially the focal point of our living space.

COBRA
Story of eggs (bird gallery for bird), 2019
Bird cage, acrylic on canvas
21 x 30 x 39 cm.; 18 x 14 cm.
Fall 2019

The commissioning of artists for the space is a flexible undertaking, “Sometimes we contact someone whose work we’ve loved for quite a while, on other occasions we get in touch with someone whose work we’ve only become familiar with recently.” With only four “shows” a year selection can be quite a stressful event for the pair. There are no set parameters for artists to be involved, and the couple try to invite artists at various stages of their careers from around the world. Artists in the collection so far have included among others: Torben Ribe, Yan Xinyue and Nicolás Lamas. 

Living with each work is essentially its biggest reward, “as cheesy as it may sound,” explains Adam. “Each work that’s on display feels like having a houseguest for three months. But a houseguest in the best possible sense. The presence of the work becomes such a part of the everyday routine; working, eating meals, socialising, etc. Every piece is essentially the focal point of our living space for a season. It’s always a little sad to take something down that we’ve been living with, although exciting to bring in the following season with something new.”

Nicolás Lamas, Random Seed, 2020
Dice, chestnut burr, tennis ball, circuit computer keyboard
43.5 x 14.5 x 6 cm.
Fall 2020

With the commissioned collection set to grow as the project continues for the foreseeable future, Louisa and Adam hope to, with the emergence of Switzerland and wider world from the present pandemic, welcome more visitors to their home. Interesting conversations with guests are a highlight, “We usually tell them a little about the artist, where they’re from, the piece on display, how it relates to the rest of their practice, how we first encountered the work, and so forth. Feedback from the project’s visitors is always a welcome bonus,” conclude the couple.

For Seasons website can be found at http://forseasons.ch/ and the instagram account at @forseasons.ch