Déflagration

Since 2004, Swiss artist Bernard Garo has been working on an exceptionally ambitious project: ARIL. This acronym combines the initial letters of the port cities: Alexandria, Reykjavik, Istanbul, and Lisbon. He travels to these cities, explores them, photographs, sketches, is inspired by the colors, and magnificently represents the characteristic elements of these places, their culture, their beauty, but also their vulnerability. Three of these cities have been severely affected by earthquakes multiple times. In this context, the artist adds the Matterhorn, the majestic embodiment of the tectonic plates that have been grinding against each other for millions of years. The Matterhorn is geographically located in the center of these cities and was also the starting point of the project. All these places share something magical. Garo's painting can also be seen as an act of resistance against standardization, the loss of our culture, and indifference, accompanied by texts from art historians, philosophers, architects, political scientists, historians, archaeologists, geologists, and poets.