The Excursion

The two day excursion led to the Sitterwerk in canton St. Gallen. Meinherz Ulrich, the managing director, presented the Art Foundry, the Josephson boiler house, the art library, the material archive and the studio building. Afterwards the group was received by Agathe Nisple in Appenzell and introduced by Peter Stoffel to the Appenzell Biennale. The two founders, Peter Stoffel and Emanuel Geisser, explained the local Biennale and the current difficulty with the Olaf Nicolai’s planned Edelweiss-square. After a short hike with explanations by the geologist Senecio Schefer, University of Basel,the group reached the Schäfler mountain guesthouse.
The traditional dinner and overnight stay in a mountain guesthouse was a new experience for most and the enthusiasm the next morning was great, when the mountain scenery was revealed in beautiful sun. The director of the Natural History Museum St. Gallen, Dr. Toni Bürgin, explained the emergence of the many caves, told about the extinction of cave bears, the first excavations at the beginning of the 20th century and the hermits of Wildkirchli. At the end of the excursion, the group visited the exhibition "Borrowed Light" by David Zink Yi at the Kunsthalle St. Gallen for most and was welcomed by the director Giovanni Carmine with a barbecue.