From a biological point of view, mushrooms are neither plants nor animals.
They constitute their own third category. From time immemorial, they have been organisms with a mysterious aura, yet their existence is an everyday and indispensable occurrence in a flourishing ecosystem.

Les Frères Chapuisat have made an approach to the essence of mushrooms.
Under the title Excrescence of Immortality, which refers to the primal power of these special organisms, Les Frères Chapuisat are appropriating the Villa Merkel. An architectural structure will spread like a mushroom throughout the ground floor of the Villa Merkel and serve as a living space for artists and fungi.

In its construction, this structure resembles the architecture of a monastery or a temple. Divided into social, contemplative and informative units, actual spatial structures are combined with narrative elements. This generates an independent organism into which the visitor is incorporated. An integrated library, a cinema and spaces of encounter provide insights into the significance and potentialities of the construction.

The architectural constructions by Les Frères Chapuisat often involve space-encompassing and larger-than-life formations. The precise planning of apparently chaotic structures gives rise to works that operate along the border of technical feasibility.

The two brothers Gregory and Cyril from Geneva conceive of Les Frères Chapuisat as an open community. Their installations are realized with additional persons and in consideration of specific on-site conditions. In this sense, the time-consuming construction process is part of the life philosophy of Les Frères Chapuisat. In accordance with a nomadic principle, the artists live at the respective project sites and, if possible, inside the installations themselves. In an interactive construction phase, the ongoing process at the Villa Merkel will be opened to public view through regularly occurring programs.

Like an organic structure, this is an expanding principle that is open to external impulses. The process is accompanied by further artistic interventions.

Curator: Anka Wenzel

link: Villa Merkel