MASI Lugano Podcast

Tobia Bezzola, former Director of MASI Lugano and co-curator of Jean-Frédéric Schnyder. La pittura 2024/25, reflects on the artist’s singular career and enduring commitment to creative independence.Starting from the exhibition, Bezzola traces Schnyder’s path from his early training as a photographer and his work alongside Harald Szeemann to his return to painting in the 1970s and his recent depictions of the Swiss landscape.Across six decades, Schnyder has moved freely between materials, subjects and approaches. Bezzola explores how freedom and discipline, intention and chance, professionalism and naivety coexist in an oeuvre that remains unmistakably independent.Credits:Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

Je Yun Moon, curator and writer based in Seoul, joins MASI Lugano for a conversation on contemporary Korean video art, curatorial practice and the shifting cultural landscape of South Korea.Starting from the exhibition K Now, the conversation explores how moving images can unsettle perception and offer new ways of engaging with the present. Moon reflects on exhibitions as spaces of encounter rather than simple displays, and considers Korean video art as a field shaped by historical tensions, technological acceleration and complex social realities.The discussion also touches on the global circulation of Korean culture, the rise of Seoul as an international art centre, and the coexistence of public funding and a rapidly expanding art market. Rather than offering a simplified reading of Korea or a representative overview of a national scene, Moon invites listeners to remain with contradiction, disorientation and complexity.At the heart of the conversation is a reflection on video art as a powerful tool for questioning how images are framed, selected and mediated - and how this awareness can open a more ethical relationship to the world.Credits:Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

In this episode, we are joined by Chus Martínez, curator, writer and artistic director of the Ljubljana Biennale, and curator of the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2026.The conversation explores her curatorial approach and therole of institutions as spaces of collective responsibility. Martínez reflects on education, the limits of traditional distinctions between disciplines, and the need to move beyond dichotomies such as art and science, nature and culture. She outlines a way of thinking that embraces complexity and opens new perspectives on intelligence, human and non-human alike.This episode was recorded as part of SciArt Switzerland, aninitiative by the IBSA Foundation that fosters dialogue between science and the arts.Credits:Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

In this episode, Virginia Marano, co-curator of the exhibition “David Weiss. The Dream of Casa Aprile. Carona 1968–1978”, is joined by Lisa Wenger, niece of Meret Oppenheim and co-director of the artist’s estate.The conversation explores Carona as a place of artistic exchange, focusing on Casa Costanza and Casa Aprile as key sites of encounter and community. Wenger reflects on Oppenheim’s connection to these spaces, from her early experiences to her later role as a mentor, and discusses how themes such as nature, light, and freedom shaped Oppenheim’s work.Through personal recollections and archival insights, the episode highlights the networks of artists and thinkers active in Carona during the 1960s and 1970s, and considers the ongoing work of preserving Oppenheim’s legacy today.Credits: Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

Tobia Bezzola, former director of MASI Lugano and President of the Richard Paul Lohse Stiftung, reflects on the life and work of Swiss artist Richard Paul Lohse. A key figureof twentieth century concrete art, Lohse developed a methodical approach to painting based on mathematical structures and carefully balanced colour systems.The conversation traces Lohse’s path from his early career as a graphic designer in Zurich to his growing international recognition through exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale,the São Paulo Biennial, and Documenta. Bezzola also discusses Lohse’s role within the concretist movement, the intellectual foundations of his work, and the relationship between his artistic practice and his political convictions.Through this perspective, Lohse emerges as an artist who sought to unite rational thought, visual perception, and ideas of equality within the structure of painting itself.Credits: Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

In this episode, we are joined by Louisa Gagliardi, aZurich-based artist whose work explores the intersection of technology, identity, and human connection. Recorded in conjunction with her first solo institutional show in Switzerland, Many Moons, at MASI Lugano, Louisa shares insights into her artistic journey, from her early exposure to art and design to her current practice of blending digital and analog mediums.Credits: Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

In this episode of the MASI Lugano podcast, we delve into the creative world of acclaimed artist Ed Atkins—whose work who examines the complex relationship between life, emotions, representation, and technology.This episode was recorded as part of SciArt Switzerland, an initiative by the IBSA Foundation that fosters dialogue between science and the arts.Credits: Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

Step into the world of art with James Lingwood, co-director of Artangel and a leading figure in the contemporary art scene, on this episode of the MASI Lugano podcast. As the curator of Luigi Ghirri: Viaggi. Photographs 1970–1991, Lingwood offers a unique perspective on the work of Luigi Ghirri, the celebrated photographer whose poetic images capture the essence of Italy's landscapes, architecture, and everyday life.  In this episode, Lingwood not only reflects on Ghirri’s enduring impact on visual storytelling but also shares his own journey as a curator. Lingwood delves into his innovative approach to creating compelling art experiences, from groundbreaking projects at Artangel to the acclaimed exhibition at MASI Lugano. Join us for an insightful conversation that bridges the visionary work of Ghirri and Lingwood’s expertise, revealing why these images continue to inspire and resonate across generations. Credits: Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

Alexander Calder is the most acclaimed and influential sculptor of our time. Born in a family of celebrated classically trained artists, Calder utilized his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art by adding a fourth dimension to sculpture: that of movement. He is renowned for the invention of the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move and balance in changing harmony.  In this episode, grandson of Calder, Alexander S. C. Rower talks about how and why he set up the Calder Foundation in 1987 and what he has learnt and achieved while running the organization over the years. He explains how his grandfather’s work is not as easy to understand as some may think and how Calder may not have been as influenced or inspired by his contemporaries as stories might suggest. He reflects on why he believes Calder’s work is still present and alive today and refers to the current exhibition Calder. Sculpting Time at MASI Lugano, telling what the show means to him personally.Credits: Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini

When we think of old photographs from the 1930s, we immediately conjure up a visual repertoire of black-and-white landscapes, streets and portraits. However, the Swiss photographer Werner Bischof was already thinking in colour at a time when it was reserved for advertising catalogues, cartoons and American blockbusters, all products of consumer society. In this episode the recent discovery by Werner’s son, Marco Bischof, of a series of unpublished colour photographs provides the opportunity to revisit the golden years of photography, the Magnum agency and the Swiss photographer’s life, career and avant-garde technique.Credits: Recording, editing, music, and direction by Ryan Jay Tweedie for Recall Sound ProductionPresented by Nabila Dolfini