Remembering Oscar Wiggli

I am sad to report that Sculptor and composer Oscar Wiggli passed away on January 26th, 2016. He was 88 years old.

I had the great pleasure to meet with this unique Swiss artist and his wife Janine in 2013. We visited them with Master students who were working on a digital re-creation of the Syhamo, a hybrid synthesizer with digital processing & analog sound synthesis, one of the first interactive pieces of art with live sensor-controlled sound synthesis.


Oscar Wiggli in his workshop.

There in Muriaux, we discovered the amazing sculptures kept by the Fondation Oscar et Janine Wiggli. We also met director Claude Stadelmann, who was shooting a documentary on Oscar. This film was shown on the Swiss public channel 2 weeks ago, and is still streaming for 15 days on the RTS-2 web site - you have to stream it from Switzerland: Oscar Wiggli, sculpteur et compositeur. It is a wonderful document, with beautiful footage of Oscar Wiggli working at the Von Roll furnaces.

Here is an excerpt showing the Syhamo:

For more information, check out Antonin Segaut's Syhamo page, watch his sculptures on the Oscar Wiggli page at the Swiss Institute for Art Research, or even better, visit the Wiggli foundation.

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