High Altitude

Photography in the mountains

Mountains have been a central defining theme in Switzerland, as they have
elsewhere in the world. This has fascinated artists and, since the earliest
invention of the medium, photographers. Today mountain chains are seen
differently than they once were, recognized as having an unsettling fragility
in the face of their occupation by humans. What remains of the myths linked to
mountains? Are mountains still a source of inspiration for today’s artists?
How do perceptions of them shift as their populations disappear, and cultural
references are increasingly centred on an urban existence? High Altitude
provides some of the answers to these questions. This book is a companion to
the Swiss photography festival, Alt. +1000, held in Rossiniere in the
foothills of the Alps.

‹High Altitude› features works by contemporary photographers who record
mountains in their various and multiple states: spectacular, sublime,
domesticated, constructed (even artificial!) and frightening. Artists from
around the world, many of whom live far from a mountainous environment,
celebrate and challenge deeply rooted myths, and individually interpret this
elusive landscape.
In addition, well-known photographer Olaf Otto Becker, renowned for his views
of Greenland, created a portrait of a natural park close to Rossiniere.
Becker’s work is breathtakingly beautiful, but its beauty nonetheless reminds
us that nature is being radically modified by climate change.
112 Seiten; w. 65 col. ill.