A New Gaze 4

«Expanding perception through contemporary art» lies at the heart of Art Vontobel’s approach to supporting photography and building a cohesive collection. Our theme for A New Gaze 4 is «Community.»

Community is a complex and multifaceted concept that can be interpreted in many ways. At its core, community is about people coming together to form a group or network that shares common values or interests. Is the desire for more community an answer to an increasingly complex and fragmented world, or is it innate to human nature?

Communities can be sources of strength but also conflict. Strong belief systems within communities can lead to societal divisions. Politics, digitalization, pandemics, and war have all impacted our sense of and behavior.

Our brief for this edition of A New Gaze asked artists to explore new versus traditional communities, belonging versus loneliness, increasing autonomy and transparency versus social conformity. We sought works examining the benefits and downsides of communities.

For the first time in A New Gaze’s history, we have two winners: Emidio Battipaglia and Augustin Lignier. Lignier’s «Wink Piece,» operating at the intersection of photography and performance, examines non-verbal communication in community building. In contrast, Battipaglia’s participatory project «Synaptic Dialogues» brings to life networking and communication between humans, nature, and AI. Their works offer compellingly different yet complementary takes on our brief.