Andy Storchenegger | Residency
Zambia | Visual Arts
May - August 2021 — Visual Arts
Andy Storchenegger’s artwork deals with the collective phenomena of the idea of paradise. He works in the fields of video, sculpture, performance, dance and installation. Research into archaic customs led him several times to the South Pacific, South America and Africa. In Switzerland he has also sought out the wild and primitive aspects from Swiss folklore. Andy is interested in the reason many pagan customs have been preserved in Switzerland and other cultures and what role they continue to play today. In his work, masks are a central motif that visualise the wild and uninhibited. His work is influenced by the tension between notions of progress and the time-honoured. He explains that “since antiquity, the mask has, as an object to conceal and transform one’s face, been an indispensable element of theatre and cult. It is not only a historical object, however; it also plays an important role in our modern-day society.”
For his residency in Zambia from 22 May to 12 August 2021, Andy will spend time at Modzi Arts in Lusaka and at the Livingston Office for Contemporary Art in Livingston. He intends to connect with local groups and artists to learn more about Zambian culture and how masks are used in traditional dances and ceremonies. Working with the Amaombe Dance Ensemble, Andy hopes to develop performance and video works in collaboration with the dancers.
BIOGRAPHY
Andy Storchenegger lives and works as an independent artist in Zurich and St. Gallen (Switzerland). His completed a preliminary design course and studied graphic design at the Hochschule Luzern (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts) with an exchange semester at the Facultad de Bellas Artes (Faculty of Fine Arts) in Cuenca, Spain. In 2011, Andy completed a Master of Fine Arts at the École cantonale d’art (School of Art and Design) in Lausanne and has studied ceramics and polymers at the HEAD in Geneva. He has exhibited in Switzerland and abroad and was a guest lecturer at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam. Since 2009 he has been a lecturer and supervisor for the preliminary design course at the Höhere Fachschule für Gestaltung und Kunst (Higher Technical College for Design and Art) in St. Gallen.
