The Rhône Glacier serves as the starting point for Watching the Glacier Disappear, a vast exhibition unfolding across Switzerland. The show is the culmination of five years of on-site research by artist Carmen Perrin, with more recent input from architect Georges Descombes, civil engineer Jürg Conzett, and musician and performer Jacques Demierre. It was inspired by the sight of the glacier ravaged by the effects of climate change, with the section near an ice cave covered in geotextile sheets in an attempt to slow the melting and keep the tourist business going.

The exhibition aims to lift the veil concealing the truth. It compels us to consider the glacier in a new and different light. To see, hear and feel the message it’s sending about the changing face of nature on our planet. And to understand that it’s not too late to save the glaciers – but only if we act now.

The centrepiece of the event is an exhibition in the main hall at the Grand Hotel Glacier du Rhône in Gletsch, where Perrin’s journal will go on display, setting out her thought processes and the people and obstacles she encountered along the way.

The opening of the exhibition will be set to music, with an original score – composed by Demierre and performed by a trio of singers – setting up an intimate dialogue between the natural and human worlds.

A suspended walkway designed by Conzett and Descombes will take visitors over the landscape where the glacier once stood, and where new life forms – so fragile and precious – are emerging.

Carmen Perrin (b. 1953) was born in La Paz, Bolivia. When she was seven years old, her family fled to Geneva, where she completed her schooling. She trained at the Geneva School of Fine Arts, where she later taught between 1986 and 2005. A sculptor with an interest in the effects of light and the perception of materials, she has increasingly focused on site-specific art, setting her works – large-scale pieces for public spaces – in explicit architectural, landscaping and social contexts. Through this vast, collaborative project on the Rhône Glacier, Perrin broadens her horizons and pushes the boundaries of interdisciplinary creation.

Georges Descombes (b. 1939) is a landscape architect trained in Geneva and London. Teaching, forward thinking, experimentation and reflection have been mainstays of his career. His flagship projects – such as Geneva’s Parc de Lancy (1986) and the Swiss Path hiking trail (1991) – are infused with meaning and depth, reflecting his sensitive yet analytical eye. Between 2002 and 2022, he oversaw the restoration of the River Aire in Geneva – a vast, pioneering project executed with respect, skill and subtlety that earned him widespread international acclaim. In 2019, Descombes and his team received the Council of Europe’s Landscape Award. And in 2021, he was awarded the Meret Oppenheim Art Prize by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture.

Jürg Conzett (b. 1956) studied civil engineering at ETH Zurich. For the first seven years of his career, he worked under architect Peter Zumthor as a way to expand his skillset beyond his engineering background. He subsequently opened his own practice in Graubünden, where he specialises in bridges and load-bearing structures for buildings. Conzett, who has a global reputation for his elegant, refined and ingenious designs, represented Switzerland at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2010. As a leading practitioner of engineering as art, his respect for history, heritage and place earned him the 2022 Meret Oppenheim Art Prize from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture.

This project was made possible thanks to the commitment of Consortium INDUNI/SCRSA.

Views of the exhibition Où vas-tu glacier, Hôtel Glacier de Rhône, Gletsch, Carmen Perrin, Georges Descombes, Jürg Conzett © Photo: Alexis Feuillet