Marinella Senatore Brings the Light of Contemporary Art to St. Moritz

From August 22 through October 2026, St. Moritz will be transformed into a laboratory for public art with I Contain Multitudes, a new site-specific project by Marinella Senatore, one of Italy’s most internationally acclaimed artists. Her Luminarie will be installed at two locations in the town, Schulhausplatz and Forum Paracelsus, inaugurating REFLECTION, the new public art programme of the Kulturstiftung St. Moritz, the newly established cultural foundation.

Conceived and artistically directed by curator Mareike Dittmer, REFLECTION aims to bring contemporary artworks into dialogue with the landscape and local community. Every two years, an artist will be invited to spend a period in residence in St. Moritz, transforming experiences gathered in the area into a work that engages with the urban and alpine environment.

The choice of Marinella Senatore, whose practice is rooted in participation and collective engagement, is particularly fitting. The artist involved residents of St. Moritz in a writing workshop, gathering thoughts, phrases and quotations that have become part of the new Luminarie: words from the community that are literally “brought to light.”

The project, however, does not end with the installation. Public participation and the process of creating the work are integral to Senatore’s practice, which views art as a space for sharing, capable of generating relationships and memories even before becoming an object to be viewed.

The project also forms part of the ALP Summer Laboratory, an interdisciplinary programme promoted by the Kulturstiftung St. Moritz in collaboration with Mareike Dittmer. The first edition, entitled Alpine Landscapes of Perception, brings together artists, writers, researchers and students to explore the Alpine landscape as a space of perception, exchange and experimentation.

Participants include Piet Baumgartner, Fabian Gutscher, Sara Masüger and Maya Minder, together with guest contributors Jan Verwoert, Johannes Hedinger and Daniel Meuli. Eight students selected through an open call complete the group.

With REFLECTION and ALP, St. Moritz is seeking to move beyond the idea of contemporary art as simply an exhibition element, turning the territory itself into a place for cultural production and dialogue.