3 photographic installations
and several prints from on-site photographs
Bex & Arts 26
Outdoor Triennial, May 30 > September 3, 2026
Szilassy Park, Bex, Switzerland

Through photography and video, Olivier Crouzel’s work projects one landscape within another. Though no stranger to coastlines and shorelines, the artist feels right at home in Szilassy; more than 140 million years ago, a vast ocean covered the Alps. “Clear views of the Mediterranean” evokes the mountains’ maritime heritage by superimposing a view of the Mediterranean onto a view of the Dent de Morcles, the Aiguille d’Argentière, and the Dents du Midi.

By positioning each of these superimposed images opposite the Alpine vantage point it represents, Olivier Crouzel invites us to look beyond the Bellerin landscape, all the way to the Mediterranean. By creating an opening at the center of the views, he invites us to traverse the mountain to reach the sea. The placement of the works also marks the park’s vantage points over the Alps, carefully selected by Lady Hope and her daughter Elisabeth when the park was designed in the 19th century. These “postcard views” are therefore not the result of topographical chance, but rather the outcome of a deliberate choice, repeated time and again since the park’s creation.

The title of the work refers to the slogan “Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer,” chanted by Swiss-German youth during the youth unrest of the 1980s, calling for greater openness from a country surrounded by mountains. Nearly fifty years later, Olivier Crouzel offers these unobstructed views of the Mediterranean, leaving everyone free to interpret them as they wish.

Work created during an artist residency in Szilassy Park, Bex, Switzerland.
Website: Bexarts.ch
Curator: Monique Keller
Co-curator: Anne-Outram Mott
Stage Manager: Yassine Gheribi, Arthandlers