From February 15 to March 2, 2025, the St. Niklaus Chapel in Gstaad hosted Liminal Journey, a site-specific light and sound installation by Emilio Ferro, curated by Dr. Valentina Locatelli and commissioned by art+château and Espace Muraille.

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Inspired by the chapel’s history, spiritual significance, and role within the local community, Ferro created an immersive and meditative experience. His work, an interplay of light and sound, serves as a metaphor for life’s journey, symbolizing transformation and the fluid passage through liminal spaces and times.

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A beam of white light radiates from a totemic metal structure installed behind the altar and crosses the entire nave like an immaterial sculpture. When the chapel’s entrance door is opened, the light spills outward, extending into the village; when it is closed, the light is contained within, casting a luminous halo on the door itself. Underscoring the material presence of this physical threshold, the light creates a dynamic yet unsubstantial connection between the interior and the exterior of the building, between the chapel and the town.

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Dedicated to St. Nicholas, the chapel has always played an important role for Gstaad and the valley, not only as a place of worship, but also as a symbol of the cultural identity of the region and its inhabitants. St. Nicholas, who is venerated as the patron saint of travelers, sailors and merchants, accompanies and protects those who are in transit, both physically and spiritually. He is a symbol of hope and offers guidance through the uncertainties and challenges of any journey.

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As the beam of light traverses the chapel, it metaphorically unites past and present, the sacred and the ordinary. Ferro’s light sculpture underscores the universal dimension of the journey, which is not only to be understood as a geographical displacement, but also has an inner experience, as a path to consciousness, growth and transformation. The light radiating through the church’s nave becomes a metaphor for those who pass through it, symbolizing their physical and spiritual transitions.

 

The light illuminates the path and creates an immaterial connection between generations, cultures and religions, between the community of yesterday and that of today. In the experience of light, visitors to the church discover a place of security and the opportunity to enter a meditative state and find a new and personal approach to prayer.

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The installation is accompanied by a soundtrack created by Ferro. The water sounds of the rivers that flow in the Saanenland and around Gstaad are recorded via immersion microphones, sampled and transformed into a sound composition that accompanies the visitor and evokes the flow of time and life. In addition, the magnetic fields in the chapel are recorded to make audible what normally escapes the human ear. This sonic intervention by Ferro reveals what cannot be perceived by the ordinary senses, inviting the viewers to embark on another dimension of the journey: one of listening and inner reflection.