Renate Buser

Eight years after her initial commission for Festival Images, Renate Buser conceived the largest piece ever produced for the event. As usual, the artist’s starting point was an emblematic construction from architectural heritage to create a monumental installation. Suspended over the facade of Nestlé’s international headquarters designed by Jean Tschumi in 1960, the artist’s piece entitled Avenue Nestlé 55 reinterpreted a fragment of the ground floor. Part mise en abyme, part trompe l’oeil, her nearly 1000-m2 grandiose photograph highlighted the play on transparencies and the scale of the building as it invited viewers to stare through it.

Renate Buser takes her inspiration from existing architectural elements to create large on-site installations arranged in such a way as to question the real via an enigmatic trompe l’oeil visual illusion. She returned to Festival Images with a second project, Rue d’Italie 49, where she moved part of the lobby of the Hôtel des Trois Couronnes to one of the outdoor facades. Her giant 110-m2 photograph revealed the magnificent venue reserved for privileged clients since 1842, thus allowing passers-by a peek into this historic palace.

Renate Buser created Rue du Panorama 4, the very first monumental piece produced specifically for Festival Images. She used a Sinar view camera to photograph the inside of the former Vevey prison, then enlarged the image and displayed it on the facade of the building. Part real architecture, part imaginary construction, the over 140-m2 installation abruptly revealed the inside of the building that was a place of confinement for 150 years.