Modern Nature

Since 2019, La Becque has been holding public events, open to all, dedicated to filmmaker, activist, and writer Derek Jarman. Entitled Modern Nature and conceived on a proposal by Elise Lammer, this program borrows its name from one of the English artist’s collections, which largely focuses on his garden in Dungeness on the coast of Kent, England. Developed towards the end of his life, this lush, flowery haven, despite its inhospitable environment, would become his last total work, and later a place of pilgrimage for increasingly diverse artistic communities.

For its Modern Nature project, La Becque has drawn inspiration from the work of Jarman, developing a botanical tribute to Dungeness in the heart of its own gardens on the shores of Lake Geneva. Each year, La Becque invites both internationally renowned, established artists and up-and-coming Swiss creators to come and tackle this “place within a place” and Jarman’s artistic legacy, turning this natural setting into a driving force for artistic exploration and experimentation.

After three iterations of Modern Nature dedicated to the themes of “Camp,” “Queer Nature,” and the AIDS crisis, La Becque is hosting a fourth, which this time will focus on the garden as sanctuary, through a panorama of varied and original artistic practices, including performances, round tables, concerts, and installations.

Imagining his garden at Dungeness as a place of escape, created and maintained in the face of his own impending mortality, a canvas of creation in the midst of all the destruction, Jarman sought to preserve notions of immortality where all seems destined to disappear – a garden sanctuary, both memory and memorial, rooted in the irrepressible life of the earth, e.g., shoots, buds, and flowers. Thus, for this new iteration of Modern Nature, curated by Vanessa Cimorelli, La Becque invites us to consider the garden as a place of anchorage, of presences – past as well as future – which also feed off an abundant energy source that enables them to resist and survive.