Born in 1974, he lives and works in Geneva.
Séverin Guelpa draws his inspiration from the raw materials of the land, revealing their forces, movements, and points of fracture. His work combines raw materials—stone, earth, wood, and industrial waste—to express the states of a world in profound upheaval. He alters, weighs, transforms, or relocates these raw materials in installations that evoke the fragile links between human needs on one hand, collective practices and forms of natural resilience on the other, aiming to question the radical changes shaping our society.
Through his MATZA projects, Guelpa engages with extreme territories or emblematic urban areas worldwide, bringing together artists, artisans, architects, and experts from diverse fields around each project. These field experiences fuel research into our adaptability and the emergence of new forms of ecology and reciprocity. After interventions in the Mojave Desert (2014–2017), on the Aletsch Glacier (2016–2018), in the Kerkennah Islands, Tunisia (2017), and several Swiss cities, MATZA was recently deployed in Colombia (Medellín and Cúcuta) and Kenya (Nairobi) between 2022 and 2023.
Currently, Guelpa continues his work between the Mojave Desert (California), the Swiss Alps, and the Salar de Atacama (Chile). Initially trained in political science, he later earned a master’s degree in visual arts at HEAD – Geneva. He regularly shares his work through lectures and workshops at institutions, universities, and art schools both in Switzerland and internationally.
Fresh from California, where he created the permanent outdoor work DANCING WITH THE SKY, Séverin Guelpa has completed his film TIMES PARALLAX, premiering today at Espace L. His work will be shown at the Stefan Witschi Gallery in Zurich in June 2025 and February 2026. He will participate in the group exhibition Passage visible all summer at the Gemmi Pass (VS, Switzerland) and later in ERDE(N) in Richterwil (Froh Ussicht – Zurich). He is invited to create a series of works at the Rolex Learning Center at EPFL, Lausanne, in October, will participate in the Larnaca Biennale the same month, and will present his work at the Kunst[ ]Klima art center in Stuttgart in November.
Exhibitions at Espace_L gallery:
Times Parallax.
