This season, the mountains are alive with more than just the sound of music: they are echoing with the voices of contemporary artists from around the globe. Unfolding among the breathtaking peaks and majestic valleys of the Alps are forward-looking art festivals and mountaintop installations. Highlights include a riveting showcase of creativity in Switzerland, an intriguing group exhibition in Austria, and an enthralling sculpture park that bridges art and environment in Italy.

‘The Parliament of Marmots’
Biennale Gherdëina 9
Various locations
Val Gardena, Italy
Through September 1

Returning for its ninth edition, this year’s Biennale Gherdëina – set against the backdrop of the Dolomites – takes inspiration from a local Ladin myth about the fall of the Fanes, a peaceful populace whose kingdom once extended to the edge of the world. Titled ‘The Parliament of Marmots’, the show unfolds across the 17th-century Gardena Castle, the town center of Ortisei, and – for the first time – the village of Pontives, Laion. One highlight is Nassim Azarzar’s dazzling mural The Edge of the Forest (2024), which melds Moroccan motifs with the folklore of the Dolomites, on the facade of the disused Hotel Ladinia and acts as an invitation to explore further works inside by Ruth Beraha, Chiara Bersani, Michael Höpfner, Alessandro Biggio, and Daniele Genadry.

‘The Glass Mountain’
Kunstverein St. Gilgen
Mozarthaus, St. Gilgen, Austria
Through September 15

Kunstverein St. Gilgen is a new platform for contemporary art that launches this summer with ‘The Glass Mountain’ at the Mozarthaus in the lakeside town of St. Gilgen. The exhibition is centered on Donald Barthelme’s 1970 eponymous short story, which traces the narrator’s perilous ascent of a glass skyscraper in New York City in a subversive reimagining of a Nordic fairytale. Embracing semiotics and postmodern flair, the exhibition does not unravel illusions so much as it multiplies them by playing with layers of meaning and connections across contexts. In the work of artists including Trisha Donnelly, Michaela Eichwald, Niklas Lichti, and Peter Fischli and David Weiss, realism meets fantasy, banality transects absurdity, and connectedness challenges isolation.

‘Artist Activist Archivist: Bernhard Lüthi Invites’
Fondation Opale
Lens, Switzerland
Through November 10

Swiss artist, activist, and curator Bernhard Lüthi has championed Aboriginal art in Europe since his first visit to Australia in the 1970s – and his meticulously kept archive is now the focus of an exhibition at Fondation Opale. Lüthi’s images and documents from his travels are complemented by works by artists who influenced him, such as Archie Moore, Emily Kam Kngwarray, and Wally Pwerle, alongside a site-specific installation by Wiradjuri artist Brook Andrew. ‘Artist Activist Archivist’ celebrates Lüthi’s dynamic advocacy for Aboriginal art and culture in Europe, critically addressing issues surrounding colonialism and Eurocentrism.

Roe Ethridge
‘Happy Birthday Louise Parker II’
Gagosian
Gstaad, Switzerland
July 11 – September 8

Known for his rigorous compositions and nuanced approach to image-making, Roe Ethridge explores diverse subjects – from still lifes to fashion spreads to intimate portraits – with a unifying formalness. This summer, the American photographer is having a moment in Europe with a double bill of exhibitions at Gagosian’s spaces in Gstaad and London named for Minnesotan model Louise Parker, one of his longtime collaborators. In Gstaad, the exhibition showcases portraits of Parker alongside layered collages and images offering a glimpse into Ethridge’s family life. The selection of images explores the dialogue between his commercial work and fine art photography: ‘often they’re the same thing,’ Ethridge has said.

Backstage Engelberg
Various locations
Engelberg, Switzerland
Through August 18

The first edition of Backstage Engelberg, a new initiative by Zurich gallerist Peter Kilchmann, transforms a 900-year-old Swiss monastic village into a hotbed for contemporary art. German curator Dorothea Strauss has selected works by 53 artists from 17 countries to be installed in unconventional locations including a former slaughterhouse, historic ice cellar, shoemaker’s cottage, unused bowling alley, and hotel attic. Topical issues such as climate change, sustainability, and sociopolitical dynamics resonate strongly, particularly in works by Francis Alÿs, Monica Ursina Jäger, and Renata Kaminska.

‘Tapta: Flexible Forms’
Muzeum Susch
Susch, Switzerland
July 20 – November 3, 2024

True to Muzeum Susch’s mission, ‘Tapta: Flexible Forms’ celebrates the oeuvre of a significant yet historically overlooked female artist. Polish-born artist Tapta arrived in Belgium in 1945 as a political refugee and studied visual arts and weaving in Brussels.  Following a decade in the Congo in the 1950s, she settled permanently in Belgium where she sought to redefine sculpture by using textiles and other flexible materials as sculptural elements. The artist’s first retrospective outside of her adopted home, this exhibition showcases the radical textile works she made between the 1960s and early 1980s as well as works she made in black neoprene from the 1980s until her death in 1997, revealing her dynamic approach to material and space.

Arte Sella: The Contemporary Mountain
Various locations
Borgo Valsugana, Italy
Through November 2024

Val di Sella, nestled in the southeast of the province of Trentino, is a picturesque valley dotted with rustic villages, idyllic meadows, and – belying its quaintness – one of Italy’s most captivating sculpture parks. Since 1986, over 300 artists, architects, and designers have contributed temporary yet monumental site-specific works to the site, with the only prerequisite being that the pieces are made of natural materials. Today, there are three exhibition routes guiding visitors through a unique woodland gallery of some 30 installations, including recent additions from Michelangelo Pistoletto, Daan Roosegaarde, Kengo Kuma, and Michele De Lucchi.

sommer.frische.kunst
Various locations
Bad Gastein, Austria
July 12 – August 31, 2024

Since 2009, the Austrian spa town of Bad Gastein has provided the stunning setting for the annual festival sommer.frische.kunst (literally, ‘summer.fresh.art’). With pop-up exhibitions, masterclasses, and other live programming, this year’s festival delves into the impact of AI and the digital revolution on artistic creation. Highlights include flags planted in unusual sites and designed by artists including Martha Jungwirth and Olaf Nicolai as part of the ongoing ‘Raising Flags’ project by the non-profit Vienna-based organization Museum in Progress. Coinciding with the festival is also the third edition of the fair art:badgastein (July 13–20), with a select group of galleries, including Knust Kunz Gallery Editions and PSM, taking over a power plant at the base of Bad Gastein’s waterfall.