Sibylla Walpen

Sibylla Walpen

Deux portails

Sibylla Walpen grew up in Visp and lives in Bern as a mixed media artist. She has realized several projects in public space. In the 1950s, the action group Pro Gemmi proposed the construction of a road from Kandersteg over the Gemmi Pass to Leukerbad, it was active until the 1970s. Two longer tunnels were also planned. With her project «Deux Portails», the artist asks what would have happened if the highway had been built. She erects two full-size tunnel portals in the form of billboards, which are placed at the planned locations at Daubensee and at the upper end of Spittelmatte and take up the former traffic vision. «I imagine that these signs will stimulate the viewer’s imagination and encourage speculation. Or that they will be classified as surreal and absurd phenomena.»