16/09/2025
The Verbier 3-D Foundation is pleased to present ‘Sempervivum’, a new site-specific sculpture by artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. Created during the Foundation’s 2025 Artist Residency, the sculpture is a culmination of Luger’s immersive process of listening to the mountains and the local community of the Val de Bagnes.
Luger, a multidisciplinary artist of Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, and European descent, works to explore the deep connections between land, community, material, and memory. During his residency, he collaborated with local artisans and drew inspiration from the rhythms and stories of the valley, from the cows on alpine pastures to the local residents. He also was inspired by Hughes Dubois' ‘Formes & Façons’, which documents the inherited cultural forms of the Val de Bagnes. This deep immersion allowed the sculpture to take shape organically, guided by local knowledge and collective memory.
The sculpture’s title comes from the alpine plant Sempervivum (Latin for “always living”). Growing on Swiss rooftops or on top of stones, it was long regarded as a talisman against lightning and misfortune, earning the nickname the “Alpine Evil Eye.” This resilient succulent symbolizes endurance, care, and the intimate connections between humans, folklore, and the natural world. Thriving in harsh conditions, its rosette structure follows the Fibonacci spiral, a geometry that recurs throughout nature. Luger embedded this growth pattern into the stonework itself, allowing the plant’s natural design to shape both the concept and physical form of the piece. The steel element takes the shape of a negative lightning bolt, evoking the destructive power of natural forces and the need for the protective qualities of Sempervivum, while also reflecting the ongoing threat that extreme weather and climate change pose to the land and local communities.
Materially, ‘Sempervivum’ is an archive of its surroundings. Built from local stone, slate, steel, and ceramic, it embodies the ecology of its place.
The stone was taken directly from the surrounding landscape, while traditional building methods like pierres sèches (dry-stone work) and natural ardoises (slates) root the work in centuries of alpine knowledge. Steel marks the region’s industrial presence, while the hand-built, fire-hardened ceramic brings an intimate touch from Luger’s own practice. Each material holds memory, labor, and trace, making the sculpture an archive of process and a heartfelt offering to the community.
Formally, the work resists singular meaning, existing at the threshold between function and myth. At once shrine, shelter, and gathering place, it invites reflection and reorientation in relation to the land and its stories. For Luger, art is not an isolated object but a dialogue: between artist and land, story and structure, past and possible futures.
With ‘Sempervivum’, the Verbier 3-D Foundation continues its commitment to supporting art that is deeply connected to place, responsive to environment, and engaged with community. Cannupa Hanska Luger’s new work offers more than a sculpture, it presents a way of seeing the land as a living entity: one that holds knowledge, asks us to listen, and calls us toward more ethical forms of coexistence.
'Sempervivum' is now on view in the Verbier 3-D Foundation Sculpture Park.
