Over the past century, science, politics and business have shaped our world. In our current global society, it is time for art and culture to play a dominant role. At the start of each year, the non-profit Verbier Art Summit brings together innovative thinkers with influential artists to kick-off debates on important social issues. The international platform’s sole aim is to generate new ideas and
drive social change through art. Through a series of talks and debates with an invited group of leading art world stakeholders, new visions and initiatives are born that will make a positive change and build global solidarity. The talks provide a unique chance to be inspired by international leading art world figures on topical issues. This way, Verbier Art Summit educates, provokes and inspires its Members and the wider community. Key insights of each Summit are shared digitally and documented in an annual publication designed by Irma Boom and published by Koenig Books, London. HISTORY
When you arrive at the Verbier Art Summit, you will have just climbed 1500 meters in altitude and with each turn winding higher up the mountain, you gain kilometres in visibility, and the distance between you and your everyday life becomes greater and greater…
This is exactly what happened when the Founder of the Verbier Art Summit, Anneliek Sijbrandij, moved from London to Verbier in the winter of 2013. Anneliek started dreaming about an annual art event in this beautiful, intimate - almost hidden - site where meaningful dialogue can take place. An event in a non-transactional context, where thought leaders would be connected to key figures in the art world, focussing on annually changing themes, generating new visions and initiatives with each edition. One of these leading figures in the art world, Beatrix Ruf, believed in the concept and an exciting exchange of long conversations started in the summer of 2014. The ideas continued to develop among the Founding Members and Board of Advisors in the winters of 2015 and 2016. By January 2017 we were ready: museum director Beatrix Ruf proposed for each Verbier Art Summit to be curated by a leading museum director, who will identify a theme of their focus for a conference and book. Together with the curatorial team at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, she co-designed the format of the inaugural Verbier Art Summit, and our first group of innovative thinkers came to Verbier.
2020 SUMMIT
Organised in partnership with acclaimed museum director Jessica Morgan, Nathalie de Gunzburg Director of New York’s Dia Art Foundation. The 2020 Verbier Art Summit took place on 31 January & 1 February in Verbier, Switzerland around the theme: RESOURCE HUNGRY: OUR CULTURED LANDSCAPE AND ITS ECOLOGICAL IMPACT. The 2020 Verbier Art Summit asked how to envision a way forward in finding harmony between art, ecology and resources. Jessica Morgan comments on the theme, “How does culture move forward at a time of crisis such as now? It is essential to have artists, designers, architects, engineers and other thinkers be a part of this conversation.”
The speakers gathered for an extended dialogue in Verbier, Switzerland, to consider questions raised around resources, land and culture. The framework of the Summit allows for the exploration of a variety of subjects, ranging from the history of land art and work made in and about the land- and urban-scape; the resources consumed by art and institutions; engineering and other man made forms in the environment; real and imagined landscapes and the future of art in the context of an ecological crisis.
2019 SUMMIT
Organised in partnership with acclaimed museum director Jochen Volz — Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil — the 2019 Verbier Art Summit took place on 1 & 2 February 2019 in Verbier, Switzerland around the theme: WE ARE MANY. In times of increasing uncertainty, we are in need of a deeper understanding of the multiplicity of narratives around us. Art has the potential to give voice to forgotten and silenced narratives, but also to envision entirely new possibilities. By bringing together artists, museum directors, activists and academics, the Verbier Art Summit engaged the art world in critical reflection on their social and political responsibilities. Together, we explored the political power of art.
2018 SUMMIT
Art can be a critical tool used to understand in what direction we are moving, and at the 2018 Summit we will explore the possibilities for art created by new digital technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. By carefully selecting artists, museum directors, writers, scientists and philosophers, we aim to bring together innovative thinkers to provide the art world with a better understanding of these emergent technologies and how they might fuel change in art, culture, economy and our environment. The 2018 Verbier Art Summit was organised in partnership with museum director Daniel Birnbaum, Moderna Museet, Stockholm. The Summit took place on 19 & 20 January 2018 in Verbier, Switzerland around the theme MORE THAN REAL. ART IN THE DIGITAL AGE .
2017 SUMMIT
The 2017 Summit was organised with Beatrix Ruf and her curatorial team at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam around the theme: SIZE MATTERS! (DE)GROWTH OF THE 21st CENTURY ART MUSEUM. The 2017 Summit publication, designed by Irma Boom, launched at Frieze Art Fair in London on 4 October and is now available.
