The Sigg Art Foundation: Curating Global Cultural Synergies

In Conversation with Pierre Sigg: Insights and Aspirations

As we delve deeper into the history of the Sigg Art Foundation, Pierre Sigg, the founder, reveals unique insights into the Foundation’s journey, its impact on the art world, and its future pursuits.

Fakewhale: Mr. Sigg, what inspired you to transition from being an art collector to founding the Sigg Art Foundation? Could you share a pivotal moment or experience that sparked this significant change in direction?

I’ve been collecting for decades but with time, I realized that forming personal connections with the artists, and being involved in their careers in ways other than financially, was something missing in my path as a collector. For a long time I collected Modern and Post War Art and most of the artists in my collection were dead. When I started collecting contemporary and digital art a dozen years ago, it felt like a good opportunity to actually meet artists and be invested in their day-to-day development. It really started in a humble way: I was informally inviting artists to my estate in the South of France during the summer months. Then it evolved into a more structured residency program in 2020; and the project grew into a foundation that runs 3 curated residency programs across the world since 2022.

Fakewhale: Over the years, your collection has evolved to include a remarkable range of artists from Modern Art to contemporary digital creators. How do you personally select these works, and what guides your decision-making process?

I am curious and open-minded. I like to have the feeling that I am in front of an artwork that could have the ability to open a new world full of possibilities. Even if I don’t always understand the full scale of it in the beginning, I still feel its potential. This is the case with a lot of artists working with digital. It pushes me to think differently, to think big and outside the ordinary. I feel like new media still have so much unexplored creative potential.

That said, the collection already had a strong 20th century basis when I started collecting contemporary art. So one of the ways I select new works is by making formal or intellectual connections with existing works in the collection. Does it repeat or add to this or that subject visible in the collection? How does it echo this or that artwork I own? Will it still be relevant in 50 years or is it too specific to this moment in time?

Fakewhale: How do the Sigg Art Foundation’s residency programs uniquely empower artists, especially those working with digital and emerging technologies? Can you share a success story from these programs?

One of our goals is to provide a platform for artists working with emerging technologies. There are many art residencies in the world but I can’t think of any being active in that specific field at our scale.

We want to deconstruct the myth of digital practitioners working alone from their computers in their bedrooms. The residency programs prove that offering a space for them in different environments has a direct impact on their development. Ben Elliot just inaugurated one of his largest projects to date at Esther Schipper Gallery, which was inspired by and conceived during his stay in AlUla. Just after her residency, Monira Al Qadiri opened shows at Kunsthaus Bregenz, at UCCA, and at Noor Festival, including one monumental sculpture and film conceived during the residency in AlUla, which is part of AlUla artist residency, the

global program co-founded and co-curated by Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and Afalula, operated by the Sigg Art Foundation. These are the two most recent examples from just the past month; but most of the past residents had a transformational experience. Some of their artworks were acquired by institutions for the first time after their residency; or had their first gallery representation, etc.

Another very important way for us to measure the success of these programs is through the instances where valuable cultural bridges are being created between the residents and the context they are visiting. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, AlUla artist residency global program puts emphasis on organizing a robust public program with many opportunities for the residents to form meaningful connections with the local communities. In Saudi Arabia, the population is young and very connected to the digital realm. The past residents often told us that they felt the response to their work was far more interesting and immediate than that in the western context, as the local communities were so deeply excited to experience art in real life and interact with artists, sometimes for the first time. It is an honor to facilitate such a responsive environment for artists to showcase and develop their work, while also having a positive impact on local people’s life.