Switzerland, 2006. Performance and video work.
Snowswimming came about through a ‘accident’ whereby I fell into snow up to my shoulders whilst walking up in the mountains of Sierre, Switzerland. I am interested in the tensions that often occur in situations in which experimentation and safety collide and the contradictions that frequently accompany such situations, which can make a sense of urgency, seem like a sense of uselessness. The act of courageously swimming in ‘solid water’ defeats the act of swimming completely because you are not swimming at all. Yet this is not your concern. You are consumed by the action itself, accepting the nonsense and not trying to make sense out of nonsense, you let go and play.
After this solo performance I decided to create a snowswimming team made up of fellow artists and friends. We swam up in the mountains for approximately 20 minutes.