Spotlight with Elisa Rusca
Elisa Rusca, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge, Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Zoe Aubry
Could you tell us a little more about your background and how you got into curating?
I studied history of art and archaeology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and just before starting my final year of my BA I got an internship at Photo Elysée, the museum for photography. I still remember my first day—it was during the month of August and I was super excited. Although this wasn’t my first internship experience in a museum, the prestige of Photo Elysée made all the difference.
At that time (2007), it was the only museum in the city that included contemporary artists in its programme—sometimes giving space to younger voices as well—and it was also deeply transforming: moving away from a more classical museographic approach, it was experimenting with exhibition design, as well as shifting from purely historic presentations to explorations of the meaning of image-making in contemporary visual cultures. This might sound obvious today, but for the Swiss context and the city of Lausanne at that time, it was absolutely disruptive, which was very appealing to students like me.
After a first three-month internship, they hired me part-time as a scientific collaborator in their collections department, a mission that I continued during and beyond my MA, lasting five years in total. I have many wonderful memories of that experience, especially assisting the technical team during exhibition installations and de-installations. That’s where I learned the most about how to care for a project from the spark of an idea to its materialisation on the wall, and I cherish that time dearly. I guess that’s when I got into curating.
Later, in 2013, I was accepted into a three-month curatorial residency in Berlin, which allowed me to quickly build a strong network of artists, art professionals, and different kinds of cultural institutions and galleries in the city. That was the moment I felt I could do it for a living. In fact, five months after the end of the residency I opened my first show as an independent curator in the German capital. It was 8 May 2014, and I have never stopped since.
Who/what has influenced your curatorial practice?
As I mentioned, the technicians at Photo Elysée: André Rouinez, Jean-Jean Clivaz and Pierre Furrer. Even though it wasn’t in my duties to assist them in installing and de-installing, I would always make sure to participate in every exhibition change during the five years that I spent there. That’s where I learned how to use tools and to build and paint walls, but also how to pick the best colour tone for the scenography and how to adjust the lighting. They were passionate about photography, and excellent carpenters and designers; even though at the beginning they were surprised that a young scientific collaborator would spend her time “getting her hands dirty,” they kind of adopted me. We are still in touch today. With them I learned how to handle art, as well as the practical side of exhibition installation and design, which to me are crucial tools for any curator.
I am also very grateful to William Ewing, the former director of Photo Elysée, who had a great impact on my understanding of relations between space and objects, the so-called storytelling, and the hierarchy between different objects.
On a more theoretical level, Adelina von Fürstenberg, the founder of the Contemporary Art Centre in Geneva, is my personal icon, and Pontus Hultén’s curatorial vision and relationships with artists have always deeply fascinated me and inspired my practice.
The role of the curator is continuously changing. Could you describe what it means to be a curator today?
I always think of curatorial praxis as a mix of translation, creativity, and care. Surely, to be a curator is to take care – of objects, of artists, of spaces, of audiences. But it also means asking questions and daring to give those questions a perceivable shape. It means translating an idea to the audience through the works of artists, but also translating the artworks to the world.
Tell us about the latest project?
My current exhibition is titled Tuning In – Acoustique de l’émotion, which I curated for my institution. It is a group show with 10 artists invited to explore the humanitarian sound archives preserved in Geneva, and to address questions related to voice, sound, memory, and community. What is the connection between voice and identity? Which voices do we keep and why? Who has the right to be heard? How can we better listen, both to our inner voice and to the voices of others?
Manal AlDowayan, Marco Donnarumma, Gregor Hildebrandt, William Kentridge, Christine Sun Kim, Thomas Mader, Piero Mottola, Julia Scher, and Dana Whabira respond with surprising, poetic, and beautiful works. I really enjoyed preparing this project, which has taken me two years of research and collaboration. I am now preparing the book of Tuning In – coming out in October – as well as my next exhibition, Pach’Un Qi’jul, a solo show by Guatemalan artist Angelica Serech.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to now, that is helping you to stay relaxed and positive?
I am a raver and a clubber, so music and dancing have always helped me stay balanced. At the moment, I am immersing myself in the sounds of Susumu Yokota, a.k.a. Ebi (the shrimp), which I am (re)discovering through a live performance by Invernomuto. My current summer read is Frontières liquides by the Swiss author Daniel de Roulet: a special and temporal journey through lakes around the world that share their coasts between different countries, some of which I have lived close to (and swum in!), such as Verbano or Wannsee.
How long have you been part of IKT and how do you feel that it has benefited your curatorial practice?
I joined IKT in 2022 and co-organised the congress in 2024 in Switzerland. IKT is a dynamic and diverse association, and I really enjoy meeting and exchanging with the members of this big family!
Thank you Elisa!
Learn more about Elisa and her work on her website.
Spotlight
Spotlight is a new series of short interviews, aiming to showcase the diverse expertise and innovative approaches of our IKT members. Whether you're seeking inspiration or searching for potential partners, join us on this captivating journey as we uncover the stories, ideas, and creative visions of our members.
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