Not Vital A Plane, A Boat, A Car, A Sled, 2011

Many works by Not Vital are inspired by his ongoing nomadism. A Plane, A Boat, A Car, A Sled (2011), combines a variety of shapes materialized into a single imaginary vehicle that references the different means of transport necessary to reach the remote places where the artist settles. The streamlined shape and the thin and delicate triangles of the sculpture also bring to mind the slender body and pointed wings of a swallow. ‘It’s not atypical for people to leave the Engadin. People have been leaving the valley since the 16th century. They had to leave in order to survive. Strangely enough, people from my village always migrated to Italy, where they lived for decades, doing the same job as a patissier. They still return to Sent once a year, during the summer months. We call them the “swallows” because each year when the swallows arrive, so do they.’ (Not Vital)