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Continued emigration from the valleys is halted thanks to village renewal.
Landscape protection and mountain aid reduce economic hardship and convey new meaning for
the preservation of intact mountain farms and lively village communities.
Work collectives take advantage of agronomical techniques within cooperatives.
New rituals bring about confidence and security.
A gentle handling of natural resources and yields from the mountain environment produce returns.
Sustainable tourism attracts a quiet and appreciative public.
Natural products and traditional handicrafts find solid ground.

With hesitation an old magic begins to spread again, over yearning and creating, over wishes and powers.
To linger, to endure, to unite.

Crown-clawed clawed crown

November 7^th 1999, Wood, chamois horn, gold foil, h 29cm, l 43cm

To place a crown on a meaningless thing does more than merely confer magical dignity.
It also puts a spoke in the wheel of daily routine, enables us to take off, and opens us up for thoughts and worlds,
that otherwise remain closed to us and lie idle.

Let us place a magic crown on ourselves, our thoughts and our projects.
Let us filch claws and line them up in the circle of our lives.
Our lives from nursing babes
to old aged people!

Ueli Dubs

ON THE MANURE PILE

A CHICKEN
ON THE MANURE PILE
SCRATCHES AND SPECULATES
FINDS MAGGOTS AND WORMS
SCRATCHES AND PICKS
AND IS CONTENT

THE ROOSTER COMES
ALONG AND CROWS
AND EATS AN ENJOYABLE MEAL
CROWS AGAIN
AND IS CONTENT

Al Imfeld

July 7^th 2005, Wood and stone, iron and gold foil, h 23cm, l 59cm

To carve a chunk of streambed stone into a handy egg shape does indeed take a few seconds of eternity. My painter friend, Walter Wegmüller in Basel, pointed out the idea of the Ei(n)stein - the OneStone - to me. Thus… homage to him, the magician deeply entrenched in pen and brush.

Heckling combs were used to separate vegetal fibers of plants like hemp and flax from the outer bark and the flowers.
The bundle of plants was scutched with a batten and was then was pulled through the heckling comb.
It was long, boring and drudging women’s work, and so there was chitchat and gossip.
And that’s why still today one proposes “let’s go heckle.”

To place a heavy stone on three or five steel points conveys a strong feeling.
To let the gaze pass though rows of thorns offers rare insights.

Floating weights.

Ueli Dubs

TIME DANCE OF THE GHOSTS

IT IS NOW
THE YOUNG SHOUT
UP TO THE MOUNTAINS
ONCE UPON A TIME
MUMBLE THE OLD FOLK
DOWN INTO THE VALLEYS
TIME - A WHIRLING WIND
DANCE FLOOR OF ANCESTORS
WATCH WITHOUT HANDS
FOR ALL ELVES
SOMETHING THAT NEVER GOES FORWARD
ERODES SLOWLY
PLUPERFECT
WORLD TIME OF THE MOUNTAINS

Al Imfeld