Art Môtiers – Rousseau's waterfall is no more

Art Môtiers has taken place at irregular intervals since 1985 and has captivated thousands. The small village in Val-de-Travers (in the canton of Neuchâtel) playfully stages Rousseau's heritage “Back to nature”. This year, over 60 artworks around the village of Môtiers were on display along two circular routes. A path also leads to Jacques Rousseau's waterfall. The rock there is named after him. One can almost imagine the rapture he often describes in his works. On 28 January 1763, he wrote: “J'ai vis-à-vis de mes fenêtres une superbe cascade...” it plunges from the mountain over the rock into the valley “with a noise that can be heard from afar”.

Whoever walked the path this year was in for quite a surprise: While Rousseau's waterfall had dried up due to the hot summer, the artificial and artistic waterfall by Sandrine Pelletier sparkled on the left opposite. From broken mirror pieces and recycled material, an illusion of a magnificent natural event is created. The work is accordingly called: Chimère (illusion).

Thus the installation inadvertently becomes an irony of human fate: What does our future look like?

More on the exhibition (in German): www.kath.ch/newsd/rousseau-in-frischer-luft-was…