| News on artists selected to residencies in 2026, open calls and more No images? Click here  Go Tell It on the Mountain ...for there is much news to be told. This month's title borrows from the essay by Manasi Subramaniam that references a James Baldwin book of the same name. In other tell-worthy news, we are happy to announce the applicants selected to the 2026 residencies from the South Asia & Vietnam region to Switzerland, and vice versa. We also remind you of the She Got Game open call for developers in the game industry, identifying as women. We also share information on the Synergies open call, supporting projects at the intersection of art and digital technologies. Marie-Jeanne Urech will provide a workshop and participate in a panel discussion at Bhutan Echoes, while Jonathan O'Hear takes part in a fireside chat at Kaleidoscopic Fields. Through his residency in Switzerland, Indian artist Valay Gada's project will explore a poignant subject matter. With that, we return to the narration of Manasi Subramaniam's literary, almost lyrical research trip to Switzerland. Please follow @prohelvetia_newdelhi on Instagram for the latest updates. Pro Helvetia New Delhi ANNOUNCEMENTS Selected Artists-in-Residence 2026  © hesign Pro Helvetia New Delhi extends warm congratulations to the artists selected to residencies in 2026. Residencies offer the artist an opportunity to research, experiment, and engage. We hope that the recipients will gain from the opportunity and form sustainable networks for the future. Artists from Switzerland selected for studio residencies in the South Asia & Vietnam region in 2026. Read more about all the selected artists here. Our next call for Residencies will be open from 1 January to 1 March 2026. Find out more in advance: Open Call: Synergies  © Jean-Vincent Simonet Through the Synergies open call, Pro Helvetia provides support for projects at the intersection of art and digital technologies with a focus on knowledge exchange and fostering long-term partnerships The financial support provided ranges from CHF 30’000 to CHF 100’000 to organisations in Switzerland and across the world that partner up for projects like fellowships, hackathons, workshops, digital exchanges, peer sharing, panels or similar initiatives. Projects should focus on knowledge exchange and should include artists. Watch this video to learn more about the measure. Looking for a partner organisation? Browse the Art, Science & Technology Directory. Deadline: 1 October 2025, 23:59 (CEST) Open Call: She Got Game  “Visibility” © @lydia.perrot This programme is designed to break down barriers to access, qualification, networking and visibility for women in the game industry. It offers participants 1:1 online mentorship with industry experts, online lectures to hone their skills, a supportive community of emerging female game developers, a chance to participate in an international game design festival, project visibility and a stipend. Deadline: 1 September 2025, 23:59 (CEST) UPCOMING Marie-Jeanne Urech at Bhutan Echoes  Marie-Jeanne Urech. Photo by Charly Rappo Marie-Jeanne Urech is a French-speaking author and filmmaker from Lausanne, Switzerland. She has published 13 novels and short story collections, including a recent triptych addressing today’s global upheavals. She will lead a workshop and participate in a panel discussion at the 14th edition of the Bhutan Echoes: Drukyul's Literature & Arts Festival. Workshop Conversation Marking the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Bhutan, Marie-Jeanne Urech's participation is supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in India & Bhutan, under the 'Sustainability with a Plus' initiative. Jonathan O'Hear at Kaleidoscopic Fields  At Kaleidoscopic Fields, artist Jonathan O’Hear will participate in a fireside chat with Avinash Kumar, Co-Founder of Unbox Labs, titled "Reframed, not Replaced: Co-creating with AI." The conversation, which will take place at the event 'Between the Currents: The Second Surge,' will delve into collaboration with machines, questions of authorship, ethical considerations, and the evolving role of the artist in a tech-driven world. Date: 9 August 2025, 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm Valay Gada on residency in Switzerland  Valay Gada. Photo courtesy the artist. Valay Gada‘s practice explores the impact of urbanization and climate change on the natural environment through hyper-realistic botanical sculptures that depict the effects of genetic modification or hostile environments, revealing a captivating yet ominous beauty. His project, “Fractured Memories”, a proposed new body of work, explores the physiological and psychological impact of living with loved ones with dementia, focusing on the artist’s father’s Alzheimer’s and their own memory lapses related to trauma. As a sculptor, the artist plans to experiment with recycled glass, creating sculptures and wall art that symbolize memory loss and decay, using techniques like engraving, staining, and drilling to add depth and meaning. Photo Essay: Manasi Subramaniam on research trip to Switzerland  Manasi Subramaniam. Photo by Tony Fiorini Manasi Subramaniam is editor-in-chief and vice president at Penguin Random House India, where she leads the company’s literary publishing program across iconic imprints including Penguin, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Allen Lane and Penguin Classics. Her interests lie in soft power, freedom of expression and cultural diplomacy. Upon her return from her research trip focusing on Switzerland's literary and cultural diplomacy landscape, Manasi Subramaniam shares her impressions with us, both in words and a glimpse into her instagram posts. All words and photos by Manasi Subramaniam In May and June this year, I spent just over three weeks in Switzerland on a research trip supported by Pro Helvetia. The itinerary moved across regions and languages—German, French, Italian and even Romansh—bookended by two major literary festivals: Solothurn Literature Days and the Leukerbad International Literary Festival. What began as a programme of institutional meetings and public events became something far more layered: a study in multilingualism, literary infrastructure and the ambitions of Swiss cultural programming. Solothurn Literature Days was my first stop. It opened with a performance in Romansh—rendered with such grace and fluency that I found myself listening as if I understood. It was, in a way, a perfect introduction to the Swiss literary imagination: unafraid of opacity, confident in its cultural pluralism. Over the next few days, I met authors, translators, publishers and agents. Conversations began at receptions and continued over lunch or long, unhurried walks.  At the Zurich James Joyce Foundation Switzerland’s literary culture is both decentralised and deeply interconnected. In Zurich, I met with institutions like Literaturhaus Zürich and the formidable editorial teams at Diogenes, Kampa Verlag, Unionsverlag and the Liepman Literary Agency. Each house, distinct in sensibility, shared a seriousness of purpose. At the Zurich James Joyce Foundation, I encountered an entirely different kind of literary pleasure: in Europe’s largest Joyce library, where Joyce’s death mask rests a few feet from his annotated manuscripts, literature is treated with the reverence of ritual. At the Looren Translation House in the hills above Zurich, I joined resident translators (from all over the world) for dinner—lively, rigorous exchanges on the ethics of translation, accompanied by lentils, wine, laughter and the scent of late-spring rain.  At the Zurich James Joyce Foundation Next: Geneva. At the Société de Lecture, Enlightenment-era charm meets serious contemporary programming. At Éditions Zoé—celebrating its 50th year—the focus is squarely on translation, independence and multivocal publishing. Geneva was also where policy entered the picture. I visited the United Nations Archives and viewed League of Nations records, then met with World Economic Forum affiliates. The juxtaposition felt apt: literature, after all, often carries the subtler legacies of diplomacy. Not far from Geneva, in Montricher, I visited the Fondation Jan Michalski, where writers in residence inhabit suspended pods on stilts, each a private studio, angled slightly differently, as if to acknowledge the distinct interiority of each writer’s work. Nearby, I met writers at a different residency on the terrace of the Château de Lavigny over wine and olives. The château sits above the lake, impossibly picturesque.   United Nations Library at Geneva In Bern, I spent time at two extraordinary repositories: the Swiss Literary Archives (SLA) and the Robert Walser Archive. The SLA, housed within the Swiss National Library, holds over a hundred major literary estates, including Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Hermann Hesse, Rainer Maria Rilke and Patricia Highsmith. I had earlier attempted to visit the Centre Dürrenmatt in Neuchâtel—a dramatic Mario Botta structure perched above the lake—but was rained out, so this encounter with Dürrenmatt's papers (and his bicycle!) felt like a kind of reprieve. I was granted rare access to restricted holdings: annotated manuscripts, private correspondences, personal effects. The Walser Archive houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of Walseriana: early feuilletons, scattered journal publications, theatre adaptations and his famous micrograms (texts written in minute pencil script on scraps of paper, deciphered only decades after his death). Bern also has its own public-facing literary infrastructure. The Kornhaus Library, a vaulted former granary turned civic space, blends utility with delight: multilingual book clubs, author events, reading corners, children’s programmes and toy libraries all coexist under one grand roof. And not far from Bern, in Biel, I visited the Swiss Literature Institute, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in literary writing. My trip ended in Leukerbad, a literary festival held in a mountain spa town that feels carved out of time. Thermal springs bubble through the valley floor, Belle Époque hotels lean gently against limestone cliffs, authors gather between cable car rides and reading sessions. I climbed to the Gemmi Pass, where Sherlock Holmes is said to have crossed before meeting Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. I stood where James Baldwin once stood: in 1952, he came to this very village and wrote Go Tell It on the Mountain.  Bern But it wasn’t all meetings. The weekends offered their own syllabus. One began with a hike to Röti in the Jura, where clouds rolled across the Swiss plateau. Another took me to La Chaux-de-Fonds, where the town’s grid reflected the logic of watchmaking and the legacy of Le Corbusier. And then there was the Bernese Oberland: from Grindelwald tucked under the Eiger’s shadow to Mürren clinging to its cliff, from Wengen’s alpine hush to Lauterbrunnen’s falling water and endless sky, trains stitched their way up impossible gradients and cable cars floated into snow-bright air. There was a commuter boat ride on Lake Brienz, an afternoon in Fribourg, impromptu conversations, offhand insights, long train rides and of course cheese, chocolate and wine. If I arrived with a calendar, I left with stories.  Pro Helvetia New Delhi    newdelhi@prohelvetia.org |
Go Tell It on the Mountain
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