{"id":291161,"date":"2026-02-19T05:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T05:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291161\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T05:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T05:47:10","slug":"alexandre-de-betak-inserts-reflective-light-installation-into-swiss-barn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291161\/","title":{"rendered":"alexandre de betak inserts reflective light installation into swiss barn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>alexandre de betak presents \u2018chashitsu hikari sch\u00fcrli\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/bureau-betak\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alexandre de Betak<\/a> unveils Chashitsu Hikari Sch\u00fcrli during Gstaad Art Week, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/light-installation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">light installation<\/a> set inside a traditional Swiss barn in the Bernese Oberland. The project treats light as primary material, structuring space through reflection, absence, and modulation. The artist reveals spatial conditions already latent within the rural structure, transforming the barn into a perceptual environment shaped by shadow, mirror, and movement.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The project draws a conceptual line between the sch\u00fcrli, a small Alpine farm shed, and the chashitsu, the highly codified Japanese tea ceremony space. Although geographically distant, both share an economy of means, material honesty, and logic shaped by ritual, climate, and restraint. The work neither replicates the tea house nor reconstructs the farm shed. The artist distills their shared sensibility using light, which becomes the mediating element through which these traditions intersect.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1178398 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"alexandre de betak inserts reflective light installation into traditional swiss barn\" width=\"818\" height=\"654\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/alexandre-de-betak-reflective-light-installation-traditional-swiss-barn-designboom-07.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>Alexandre de Betak unveils Chashitsu Hikari Sch\u00fcrli during Gstaad Art Week<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>vernacular barn as perceptual laboratory<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Installed inside a pre-industrial agricultural building, the work occupies two levels of the existing barn. Its raw timber structure and utilitarian proportions become part of the experience. Mirrors fracture and extend the architecture, multiplying beams and voids, while natural and reflected light destabilize orientation and depth. As viewers ascend and circulate, surfaces dissolve, volumes stretch, and boundaries become provisional. Reflection functions as a conceptual device, implicating memory, presence, and impermanence within the act of seeing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since first visiting the region several years ago, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alexdebetak\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">French artist<\/a> has expressed a sustained interest in its rural architecture, its direct use of materials, and the way its volumes sit within the landscape. Chashitsu Hikari Sch\u00fcrli engages this vernacular heritage through contemporary artistic language.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Following a presentation in London during Frieze last fall, the Gstaad installation extends Alexandre de Betak\u2019s research into immaterial artistic architectures.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1178397 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"alexandre de betak inserts reflective light installation into traditional swiss barn\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/alexandre-de-betak-reflective-light-installation-traditional-swiss-barn-designboom-06.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>mirrors fracture and extend the architecture<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1178399 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"alexandre de betak inserts reflective light installation into traditional swiss barn\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/alexandre-de-betak-reflective-light-installation-traditional-swiss-barn-designboom-08.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>the artist reveals spatial conditions already latent within the rural structure<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1178394 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"alexandre de betak inserts reflective light installation into traditional swiss barn\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/alexandre-de-betak-reflective-light-installation-traditional-swiss-barn-designboom-03.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>a perceptual environment shaped by shadow, mirror, and movement<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"alexandre de betak presents \u2018chashitsu hikari sch\u00fcrli\u2019 \u00a0 Alexandre de Betak unveils Chashitsu Hikari Sch\u00fcrli during Gstaad Art&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,54642,501,156,29004,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-291161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-bureau-betak","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-light-installation-art","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}