The Gwaertler Grant supports artistic work that seeks to make a concrete difference to the context in which it is presented. Over the years, we have funded Swiss and international practitioners across all artistic disciplines. Their experimental, interdisciplinary, and process-based projects have engaged deeply with the surroundings – whether social, cultural, or ecological.
Our grants assist artists in the early stages of their projects – the phase when ideas are still forming, when research needs to happen, when connections need to be made, and when experimentation is essential. We believe this phase is crucial. It is often under-resourced, yet it is where the foundations of meaningful artistic work are laid. The grant thus supports a wide range of activities: archival research, connecting with people from other disciplines, active fieldwork, cross-cultural collaboration, conducting interviews, taking courses, organising workshops, experimenting with techniques, voluntary apprenticeships, and more.