High Altitude: Photography in the Mountains

The village of Rossinière in the foothills of the Swiss Alps is reputed for its 17th- and 18th- century architecture and its verdant setting. During the summer of 2011, HIGH ALTITUDE contrasts this vernacular village identity with the questioning, inquisitive and provocative viewpoints of contemporary imagemakers.

Mountains have been instrumental in defining identities, in Switzerland, as elsewhere in the world. Are the mountains still a source of inspiration for today’s creators? How do perceptions of them shift as their populations disappear and references are more and more limited to the urban world?

10 exhibitions featuring 40 international artists are held from July 17 to September 19 in various spaces of the village of Rossinière. Meetings with the artists, lectures, guided tours, educational activities will accompany the exhibitions. HIGH ALTITUDE is also a book, published by 5 Continents, which deals with all the works gathered together for the festival. Specialists in art, photography, history, geography discuss the mountain, its transformations and its representations.