Giorgio Zeno Graf
Giorgio Zeno Graf works with sculpture and installation, using salvaged materials like jute sacks to explore ecological, historical, and symbolic resonances. Rooted in the rural landscapes of Southern Switzerland, his practice reinterprets the tools and gestures of traditional craft to reflect on urban occupation, overconsumption, and waste - creating works that are materially humble yet conceptually layered.
In conversation with Giorgio Zeno Graf during the exhibition Oltre la Pietra at Castelgrande, Bellinzona
Tell us about the project you exhibited at Oltre la pietra
I am presenting Bocion (symbiotic territory), a work inspired by the large boulders of the Bavona Valley, carried by landslides or left behind by glaciers, and over time used as shelters, storage spaces or gardens. I am drawn to how these elements, despite being acted upon by humans, remain integrated into the landscape without radically altering it. In dialogue with the theme of Oltre la Pietra, the work reflects on ways of inhabiting that do not rely on building boundaries but on the possibility of coexisting with what is already there. It is a practice that works with the existing instead of dominating it, and this is reflected in the choice of materials: all the components of the piece are reclaimed, carrying previous stories, rather than introduced as new matter. The work is filled with unwashed sheep’s wool, a material that also introduces a strong olfactory element, making the presence of the piece more concrete, perceptible and difficult to ignore.
What drives your practice?
I am guided by a focus on the relationships between the body and the environment. I am interested in minimal gestures, those that engage with the context rather than transform it, that sometimes intervene and other times remain in a state of listening, the traces left by practices that arise out of necessity rather than excess. I often work with recovered materials, such as jute and wool marked by time, to explore ways of inhabiting the world that do not involve violent transformation but instead pursue coherent forms of integration.
For me, making art today means trying to withdraw from certain productive dynamics. I do not seek solutions but rather possibilities for questioning, for creating spaces of attention and listening. I believe the artist's role also involves making room, not always to say something but to allow what resists to emerge, forms of life, knowledge or presence that do not fit within dominant frameworks or are systematically overlooked.