Jury Report (excerpt)
Gen Atem’s and Miriam Bossard’s design “Flora Magica” is a response to the setting of the underpass and attempts to give it a new lightness. Instead of cleaning the walls and imposing a “clean” decor, they propose a transposition that builds on the existing. With that in mind they were able to translate the old traces found on the concrete walls into a magical world. The years-long weathering process (sintering, pollution, algae formation, erosion and growth)
led to a very unique palette of shapes and colors and provided the basis for their art intervention.
Gen Atem and Miriam Bossard take on the color
fulness of the site, heighten its luminosity through
the use of dark elements, scale organic and floral ele
ments and contrast them with graphic forms.
They complement the existing with repetitive as well as deconstructive elements, at times intervene
only partially, at other times extensively.
Their work combines elements and techniques of traditional painting and urban art culture. The art
ists take up the inspiring aspects of nature and turn them into a piece of fine art. The jury is enthu
siastic about the joyful handling of what was found. They very positively value that the concrete walls were left as raw as possible as well as the harmonious integration of the artwork into its surroundings without making it feel artificial. The site-specific fusion between concrete, erosion residue and painting
works perfectly.
The artists create a path of discovery that charm
ingly shows passers-by the interplay of nature
and artistic intervention without being didactically preachy. The project is a great enrichment for the
city of Rapperswil-Jona and inspires people to journey through the St. Gallerstrasse underpass.
