MISSION
THE VERBIER ART SUMMIT IS AN INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM FOR DISCOURSE IN A NON-TRANSACTIONAL CONTEXT.
THE SUMMIT CONNECTS THOUGHT LEADERS TO KEY FIGURES IN THE ART WORLD TO GENERATE INNOVATIVE IDEAS AND DRIVE SOCIAL CHANGE.
AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH YEAR THE VERBIER ART SUMMIT INSPIRES BOTH IN- PERSON AND
VIRTUALLY.
Over the past century, science, politics and business have shaped our world. In our current global society, it is time for art and culture to play a dominant role. At the start of each year, the non-profit Verbier Art Summit brings together innovative thinkers with influential artists to kick-off debates on important social issues. The international platform’s sole aim is to generate new ideas and drive social change through art.
Through a series of talks and debates with an invited group of leading art world stakeholders, new visions and initiatives are born that will make a positive change and build global solidarity. The talks provide a unique chance to be inspired by international leading art world figures on topical issues. This way, Verbier Art Summit educates, provokes and inspires its Members and the wider community. Key insights of each Summit are shared digitally and documented in an annual publication designed by Irma Boom and published by Koenig Books, London.
HISTORY
When you arrive at the Verbier Art Summit, you will have just climbed 1500 meters in altitude and with each turn winding higher up the mountain, you gain kilometres in visibility, and the distance between you and your everyday life becomes greater and greater…
This is exactly what happened when the Founder of the Verbier Art Summit, Anneliek Sijbrandij, moved from London to Verbier in the winter of 2013. Anneliek started dreaming about an annual art event in this beautiful, intimate - almost hidden - site where meaningful dialogue can take place. An event in a non-transactional context, where thought leaders would be connected to key figures in the art world, focussing on annually changing themes, generating new visions and initiatives with each edition.
One of these leading figures in the art world, Beatrix Ruf, believed in the concept and an exciting exchange of long conversations started in the summer of 2014. The ideas continued to develop among the Founding Members and Board of Advisors in the winters of 2015 and 2016. By January 2017 we were ready: museum director Beatrix Ruf proposed for each Verbier Art Summit to be curated by a leading museum director, who will identify a theme of their focus for a conference and book. Together with the curatorial team at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, she co-designed the format of the inaugural Verbier Art Summit, and our first group of innovative thinkers came to Verbier.
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