Publications 2025

UGO RONDINONE
‍1998, 1998

In the midst of the AIDS crisis, Western society became fearful and homophobic. Ugo Rondinone wanted to react to this new wave, which pushed homosexuals back into the closet and ostracized them, by creating a realistic character confronted with this crisis. Between 1992 and 1998, he wrote and drew five diaries, fictions of a gay artist and drug addict living in Zurich, named Ugo.

For the Biennale Son, the 1998 audio version is accompanied by a new edition of that year's diary, co-published by Biennale Son and KAPA Books.

Format: 29.7 × 21 cm
60 pages, black and white
Paperback
Limited edition of 500 copies
Price: CHF 25

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Christian Marclay
Conduite Forcée, 2023-25

For the first Son Biennale (2023), Christian Marclay created a unique performance in the former Chandoline hydroelectric power station, once fed by 16 km of penstock from the Grande Dixence dam. Struck by the immensity of these empty pipes, he imagined them as an immense instrument. An access port, located 4.5 km upstream, was opened to serve as an entry point.

EDHEA's sound specialists installed microphones and immersive sound diffusion in the turbine hall. Steel balls proved unusable, so golf and tennis balls - donated by local clubs - were dropped from the mountain, resonating seconds later in the hall. Guided remotely by Marclay, the event became a sonic portrait of a sleeping industrial monument. The recording, mixed with Alain Renaud, reproduces only natural reverberation: bullets resonating in a colossal pipe.

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Label: Biennale Son & KaPa Books
Format: Vinyl LP
Genre: Experimental
Side A: sound
Side B: portrait etching by Christian Marclay
Year: 2025
Price: 25 CHF

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DAVID HORVITZ
CALL TO A CROW - APPELLE UN CORBEAU, 2024

This leporello presents a collection of short poems by David Horvitz, written for the first Son Biennale (2023). Each poem is an invitation to connect with the environment, inspired by the Alpine landscape. Phrases such as "Imagine the sound of the footsteps of someone who is no more", "Imagine the silence emanating from a vanished glacier" or "Call a raven until a raven calls you back" offer readers a contemplative experience, linking the natural with the poetic.These texts, in English and French, have been set in space by graphic designer Romain Iannone. They will be displayed on the Valais poster network, on a large billboard in the town center - where EDHEA (Valais School of Design and College of Art) regularly programs graphic and artistic proposals - and in the local press.

Format: 8 × 100 cm,
leporello French/English
Limited edition of 1000 copies
Published by Biennale Son, KaPa Books and Edition Taube
Price: 7 CHF