“An Unknown Lake”: Bally Foundation’s Inaugural Exhibition at Villa Heleneum

Starting from April 20th, 2023, the Bally Foundation has a new home at the ‘Villa Heleneum’, a charming 1930s structure situated on the shores of Lake Lugano in Switzerland, surrounded by lush gardens and picturesque mountains. The grand opening of this building, entirely dedicated to the landscape, is marked by the inaugural exhibition ‘Un lac inconnu’ (An Unknown Lake), which delves into the region’s narrative potential, history, and myths, emphasizing the existing permeability of the relationship between ‘interiority and exteriority’. This exhibition encourages visitors to contemplate their surroundings and blur the boundaries between inside and outside, prompting them to question the varied connections between humans and the natural world.

But more than an experience that encourages us to observe our surroundings, the exhibition is an immersion into ourselves. It aims to give body and voice to the underlying: to the subconscious, to memory, to the cracks and images that inhabit us, which are equally wonderful and disturbing. Bringing together more than twenty international artists, ‘Un lac inconnu’ is a poetic wander through submerged and emerged landscapes. The show is an attempt to connect with oneself and the world.

The opening of Villa Heleneum will offer a committed, intense place that provides subjective perspectives in the spirit of a home, in a warm and welcoming environment. With a plan of two exhibitions a year, residencies open to curators and artists from around the world, and an impressive cultural program, the goal is to be diverse, challenging disciplines and finding new approaches.

THE BALLY FOUNDATION

Art, Ecology, Research, and Diversity are at the heart of the Bally Foundation’s mission. Founded in 2006, the foundation extends and amplifies the brand’s desire, since its birth in 1851, to collaborate with creative and visionary talents and to push the limits of research and innovation beyond the field of fashion. Designed to support artistic creation in several fields, the Bally Foundation has worked alongside various cultural institutions as well as with artists, for more than 15 years.

The Bally Foundation has supported and built a network of strong relationships within the local intellectual and artistic scene, so it seems essential today to highlight an emerging and confirmed artistic scene, increasingly attentive to ecological and contemporary issues, in order to open the reflection to an international level. This concern for inclusiveness and anchoring in its time is continued today through the desire to find a home, and since the opening of the new site, the Foundation has taken a new turn in its history, with a place dedicated to contemporary art in all its forms: Villa Heleneum in Lugano. With a commitment to fostering diverse and interdisciplinary artistic practices that prioritize ecological responsibility, the Bally Foundation plays an important role in supporting the development and dissemination of contemporary art.

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