Dear Matti, dear Stefan Witschi, dear friends of Annick Tonti and Matti, dear audience. It is a very special pleasure for me to introduce you today, in the short time available to the complex life and complex work of Annick Tonti.
Preparing this exhibition together with Matti has been both an intense and enlightening process for me. I must start by saying that although I never had the chance to meet Annick Tonti personally, studying her works in depth made me feel deeply connected to her. However, it was fascinating that, in a way, I got to know her very closely through the deep study of her works. Of course, this was also due to the intensive exchange with her husband, Matti, and through the wonderful monograph. For this, my sincere thanks go to Matti Weinberg for the wonderful collaboration.
Today, we are presenting approximately 70 works, that not only offer profound insight into her artistic practice but also bring us closer to Annick Tonti as a person. Annick Tonti created her artistic work in a relatively short but very intense period - primarily in the last eight years of her life. This exhibition, along with the accompanying monograph, marks the first major presentation of her work since her passing last year.
I'd like to invite you on a short, engaging journey today. For Annick Tonti, journeys were central: exploring new ideas, crossing borders - geographical, cultural and intellectual. This openness and curiosity are also reflected in her works. Annick Tonti was constantly looking for new perspectives, and in the same way, her works invite us to go on a journey of discovery. In her works, we find traces of transcultural connections, freedom, and boundless curiosity, all of which shape her artistic expression. Pay close attention to the titles of her pieces-they add a layer which takes us on a mental journey, weaving together associations, memories, and new perspectives that shed a new light on the works.
Annick Tonti came from a polyglot family with diverse roots-Tunisian, French, Basque, and ultimately Swiss. But where do "roots" truly begin? Are they tied solely to birth, or are they also shaped by the life lived, by the experiences and by connections formed?
Tonti's family was characterized by an open mind and spirit in which world cultures were not only accepted but lived. Architecture, art, and dance played a central role, and exchanging ideas came naturally to them. It was a family that always looked beyond its own horizons - and it was precisely in this, they felt, that their greatest happiness lay.
Her father was an architect. So perhaps it was almost logical in the beginning that she also studied architecture. However, she quickly realized that architecture was not enough for her. She wanted to go further. She didn't just want to build houses; she wanted to build entire environments. Environments between people, in which they can think further and arrive at new thoughts.
For this reason, she switched to cultural and social anthropology, studying in Zurich, which gave her the opportunity to delve even deeper into understanding the world.
Her resulting remarkable professional career as a diplomat and ethnologist took her to places of international significance. She worked on development programs with a focus on social justice and intercultural understanding and led important peace projects in crisis regions. Annick was deeply convinced that only by working together across cultural and political boundaries, would a better future be possible.
At this point, I would like to warmly recommend a program with Annick Tonti: almost exactly ten years ago, she was a guest on the radio show "Music for a Guest." The program is still available online. It is so much fun to listen to Annick Tonti and learn more about her thinking. For me, it was also wonderful to hear her voice.
But what ultimately led her to art? Matti Weinberg briefly hinted at it: it was he who encouraged her to live her long-held passion for art and to dedicate herself entirely to creative work. This step marked a turning point in Annick's life.
At a certain point in her life, the significant peace processes she was involved in transformed into a new form-art. Art became her new lens for viewing the world, marking a pivotal moment in her life
I have tried to summarize three central themes that I would like to give you as a small set of keys with which to explore Annick's work. The first theme is her pseudonym - where does it actually come from? "moholinushk" - what kind of artist name is it? Then there is her use of forms and colours. And the third theme: what can we learn from her work?
I will start with the first theme, with the artist's name "moholinushk". It is interesting: the word is a reference, an allusion to the name and the artist László Moholy-Nagy, one of the important pioneers of the Bauhaus period. But also, to where he came from.
What are influences, really? Where do they come from? How can you create continuity in art history and in art, from different influences? After all, Moholy-Nagy was also influenced, especially by Suprematism. For Annick Tonti, her artist's name was not only an homage to Moholy-Nagy but also a starting point to forge her own identity as an artist. She adopted this name to start her journey in the art world with a clear direction while also maintaining the freedom to discover new horizons.
Moholy-Nagy was known for his interdisciplinary approach that combined art, technology, and freedom-and that resonated with Annick: "That suits me, that's my starting point. From there, I set out." Setting out does not mean staying in the same place forever. The beautiful beginning of this journey can be seen in the second room around the corner, where four works marking this starting point are displayed.
On her artistic path, Tonti has, among other things, intensively explored Japanese culture. I would like to mention just one name: the artist Toko Shinoda, who served as a particularly significant source of inspiration. Shinoda's approach to calligraphy, form and space interested Tonti.
Like Shinoda and Moholy-Nagy, Annick Tonti always sought balance between structure and freedom. What exactly does this balance between structure and freedom mean? Freedom doesn't mean that I am free of obligations. For Annick, the ability to build obligations within a given structure was a very interesting theme. Openness and connections are motifs that run simultaneously through much of her work.
When we look at Annick's paintings, we immediately see her purposeful yet free hand. Her forms are rarely closed, extending outward as if resisting boundaries. This reflects her concept of freedom: art, life, everything remains in motion. Her colour choices are as deliberate as they are intuitive. Bold, expressive colours engage in dialogue with soft, calm tones. Yet Annick wasn't just concerned with visual impact. Her shapes and colours serve as tools for raising awareness. They invite us to pause, to notice the spaces in between and to feel the silence as much as the dynamism of the colours.
Annick understood that the space between shapes is just as significant as the shapes themselves. These open spaces allow her works to breathe and create room for reflection. For her, shapes and colours are not just an aesthetic medium, but tools to open our eyes, to see the world from a different perspective - with more depth, with more freedom.
In art history, we encounter the term "pars pro toto"-a part that stands for the whole. Annick Tonti's world of forms seems to expand this idea in a fascinating way: her works seem to consider the surrounding space and point beyond it. It is as if her lines and forms continue to resonate and evolve long after she has put down the pencil or brush.
If we think again to the initial resonance spaces - her origins, her echoes with Moholy-Nagy, and their significance - it becomes clear: it is about a "breaking open", about opening oneself to new possibilities, which at the same time brings with it an obligation. These strategic decisions - let's call them that - are not only theoretically perceptible but are repeatedly expressed in Annick Tonti's work. This is exactly what fascinates me: this balance between openness and structure runs like a red thread through her entire oeuvre.
I believe that Annick Tonti has grappled intensively with the concept of emptiness. Let us view her works from this perspective: where does she consciously create empty spaces? A brief digression: imagine you are walking down a street and suddenly notice that a house that was always there is gone. Perhaps you never consciously noticed it before, but its existence only becomes clear to you when it is absent. Annick Tonti asked herself the questions - "What is there, what is missing, and when do we notice its absence?" - and engaged with them in a fascinating way. In her work, she repeatedly explores the interplay between presence and absence and how this shapes our awareness.
I now come to my final point, and with that, to the conclusion: what can we discover through Annick's work? Annick's works are not static; they challenge us to be active. Her works do not offer ready-made answers. They create space for interpretation, allowing us to continually find new meanings. Her art is alive, constantly changing depending on who is looking at it and when. Annick often included hints in her titles that give us a starting point without revealing the whole meaning. She encourages us to look deeper, to discover more, to explore the layers of her works. Her art is like an unfinished conversation that each of us can fill with our own thoughts and experiences.
Annick Tonti's travels and her diverse observations of the world are clearly reflected in her works. Her art is characterized by the impressions and experiences she gathered on her travels, and this is also evident in the titles of her works. The titles often invite viewers on a journey through their thoughts - they open up a space for associations and encourage us to look at the world from a new, different perspective.
Annick Tonti's works have the ability to resonate deeply within us - if we are willing to engage with them. They challenge us to reflect on our defence mechanisms and prejudices, all the things that shape and define us. Prejudices are not inherently bad; they arose from experiences and once held meaning. But the decisive question is: are they still meaningful today?
Annick's works offer a space to ask these questions and to think anew. They are an invitation to everyone who not only wants to look at art but to enter into a dialogue with it. This is precisely where the transformative power of her works lies - they open doors that allow us to question ourselves and to let in change.
I am very grateful to be here today, sharing this space with all of you. Thank you very much for your attention!