Sandra Knecht
∗1968, Switzerland
Sandra Knecht (1968, Zurich, Switzerland) lives and works near Basel, in a small village. In her installations, performances, photographs, and sculptures, the artist explores fundamental questions of home, identity, and belonging. Drawing from a rich source of Alpine folklore, legends, and ritual masks, her works merge into multilayered, poetic visual worlds.A central element of her practice are collaborative cooking projects: shared meals become an artistic format in which food and raw ingredients serve as media for exchange and encounter.
Knecht's work moves at the intersection of personal experience and collective memory, inviting us to reconsider our own notions of home and community.
At the centre of Ortisei, Knecht invites visitors into a participatory encounter that oscillates between play and unease. Mounted high between buildings, a large wooden figure—over two metres long—can be activated by pulling a cord. In response, its arms rise like wings while its face shifts, revealing hidden layers beneath a mask. The gesture recalls traditional children’s toys, yet the transformation introduces a subtle disturbance: a familiar figure begins to mutate into something ambiguous, hovering between innocence and threat.
Drawing from Alpine folklore, particularly the legend of Dolasilla and the Fanes Kingdom, Knecht brings together ritual masks, mythological narratives, and vernacular craftsmanship. The carved forms, inspired by local toy-making and Perchten masks, embody a tension between protection and danger, disguise and revelation. Suspended in space, the figures become both spectacle and symbol—inviting to reflect on on how stories, identities, and collective fears are continuously performed and reimagined.
