Kunst in der Südostschweiz: Ester Vonplon

Somedia has been supporting contemporary art creation in the region with the initiative "Art in Southeast Switzerland" since 2006 and has been awarding an art prize since 2012. The associated book series is published by Somedia Publishing in collaboration with the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur. "Rauschgeräum" - excerpt from the foreword by Stephan Kunz. As an artist, Ester Vonplon is a boundary crosser. This applies to her approach to the medium of photography as well as to her thematic engagement, which leads her to remote places and unknown zones. The way she utilizes one to reach the other, and how both are interdependent, proves to be a particular strength of her art. The starting point of Ester Vonplon's artistic work is always the landscape. What is specific is not the concrete geographical location, but the fact that landscape first and foremost appears as malleable matter and follows elemental conditions: We experience rock, snow, ice, sand, desert, clouds as different states of matter – always very material, yet always also in a state of potentiality, always in motion, embedded in a continuous process of becoming and passing away. The artist makes this process visible through photographic means, while at the same time the formation in nature can be perceived as an equivalent of the artistic work. Both are mutually related. Thus, Ester Vonplon walks a fine line where the photographic capture still reflects the visible world, while at the same time the medium emerges through a very experimental handling, allowing the special conditions to be reflected.