Raphael Stucky

Opening Act, 2025

The video shows an open-air swimming pool before the season opening. Mallard ducks (and other bird species) appropriate this liminal space. In the absence of humans and the social system they represent, an intermediate space full of possibilities opens up. Ducks use human infrastructures: they swim in the water and sleep on the lawn. Their flight over the pool alternates with the passage of airplanes. The electronic soundtrack played by the artist, based in particular on the sound of aircraft engines, echoes the water, its reflections and movements. More-than-human" entities (water, birds, aircraft, infrastructure, etc.) take center stage, as do their interactions.

‍

Une Puce, 2025

On a music stand, a stack of leaves is available to the public. Depicting a graphic composition with the score of a 16th-century a cappella song composed by Claude le Jeune: "Une puce j'ai dedans l'oreille", whose lyrics refer to a state of unease and torment. In the background, other staves, vertical and empty, refer to a grid structure. The score comes from a songbook used by the artist's father in the 1970s, when he sang with a volunteer choir of young men for inmates at the Sion penitentiary. In such a context, music acquires a therapeutic dimension. Under the rules, inmates were forbidden to sing, whistle, tap or communicate with their neighbors.

The lyrics of the original song
‍

I have got a flea stuck in my ear, alas!

Which all night and all day tickles me, chomps on me

And is sure to drive me nuts.

 Remedy cannot be had, I run from here,

 I run to there, do take it out, I beg you.

 Please, o my lovely one, save me!

When I think to close my eyes and fall asleep

In it comes and pokes me, itches me, vexes me,

And makes sure I cannot sleep,

 Remedy…

From an old enchantress I have got some help

Which has cured everyone, and though it has cured all

It will do nothing for me.

 Remedy…

I know well that just one thing can cure my ill

I beg you to see me favorably

and want to soften your cruelty.

 Remedy…

‍

‍

In Ear, 2025

The work is inspired by the everyday observation of the phenomenon of wireless in-ear headphones. It's a powerful image of our society. People isolate themselves acoustically, cutting themselves off from their environment, listening to music or making phone calls. In the photographs, headphones are replaced by snail shells or mussel shells placed in the ears. The spiral shapes symbolize the loop, the return, the musical hum. The snail shape also refers to the cochlea, the part of our inner ear that transforms sound waves into electrical signals transmitted to the brain.

‍

‍

Raphael Stucky

Born in 1989
Based in Basel

Raphael Stucky explores the boundaries between sound, image, and sculpture. His work, which combines video, performance, photography, and installation, draws inspiration from everyday life, music, and the relationships between humans and animals. He has also participated in memorial projects, notably during the official apology ceremony of the canton of Valais for victims of coercive measures in April 2025. Since 2018, he and Andreas Thierstein have formed the duo Hammer Band, which explores sound gestures and the rhythms of work. He has been involved in various artistic collectives and initiatives, such as the Deep Listening Study Group and the artist-curator collective Dr. Kuckucks Labrador.