Not Vidal: SCARCH

Not Vital is a Swiss artist who has traveled and exhibited widely since the 1970s. Central to Vital’s practice is an exploration of the spatial and socio-cultural backdrop of his multiple homes and workplaces. The centerpiece of Vital’s exhibition is an iteration of his global House to Watch the Sunset project which he initiated in 2005 with the aim of building a structure for the sole purpose of contemplating the sunset on each continent. To give a name to such artworks that bridge sculpture and architecture, Vital coined the term ‘SCARCH’. The buildings Vital subsumes under his neologism are formalistic and exist primarily to fill one single—usually poetic and transcendental—purpose, such as contemplating the sunset or hiding from wind and sandstorms.