A visit to the "Maison Totale" is like "walking through a washing machine"

Augustin Rebetez has transformed his estate on the southern slopes of the Jura near Neuchâtel into a total work of art, with a museum inside the house and a sculpture garden. A "crazy thing", as he himself told the Keystone-SDA news agency.

He has brought together everything that defines him as an artist: Painting, video, sculpture and music. The project oscillates between Niki de Saint-Phalle's tarot garden and a ghost train. And, no, it is not an exhibition, but rather something that is intended to last a lifetime.

After four years of work, his house for dreaming now stands a stone's throw from Bôle station, between fields and woods. Rebetez explains that his aim is "to transmit positive energy, life, art. As if people go through a washing machine and come out refreshed and regenerated".

And almost a little grimly, he adds: "Coming here means feeling something. To be a little scared, for example, that's good." And so scary images pass by in a corner of the house; the images are generated by artificial intelligence.

On the other hand, you can laugh at a video that appears to be a reference to the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Or marvel at a face made of neon tubes and the fantasy creatures in the garden.

Rebetez didn't just want to build a beautiful house: "I believe in art, in the power of art, in the power of original places, in places where life, creation and the public intermingle. It also makes sense for such a house to be built in this region, far away from the centers."

The "Maison Totale" can be experienced until September 21, every Saturday and Sunday.

maisontotale.ch