Johan Alexandre Philippe GaumeI started my scientific career in 2008 at the Grenoble University in the IRSTEA laboratory where I did my master's thesis on the rheology of dense granular materials using the discrete element method. In the same lab, I followed with a PhD on the numerical modeling of the release depth of extreme avalanches using a combined mechanical-statistical approach and spatial extreme statistics. In 2013 I obtained a postdoc position at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos where I was in charge of developing and applying numerical models to improve the evaluation of avalanche release conditions and thus avalanche forecasting. While my PhD was mostly theoretical and numerical, my postdoc in Davos allowed me to gain a practical expertise by participating in laboratory and field experiments which helped to validate the models I develop. In 2016, I was awarded a SNF grant to work as a research and teaching associate in CRYOS at EPFL on the multiscale modeling of snow and avalanche processes. I developed discrete approaches to model snow micro-structure deformation and failure in order to evaluate constitutive snow models to be used at a larger scale in continuum models. I also developed numerical models for wind-driven snow transport. In 2017, I was a Visiting Scholar at UCLA to work on a Material Point Method (MPM) to simulate both the initiation and propagation of snow avalanches in a unified manner. The UCLA MPM model was initially developed for the Disney movie "Frozen" and has been modified and enriched based on Critical State Soil Mechanics to model the release and flow of slab avalanches. The results of this collaboration have been published in Nature Communications. In 2018, I was awarded the SNF Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship and became professor at EPFL and head of SLAB, the Snow and Avalanche Simulation Laboratory. At SLAB, we study micro-mechanical failure and fracture propagation of porous brittle solids, with applications in snow slab avalanche release. We also simulate avalanche dynamics and flow regime transitions over complex 3D terrain through the development of new models (depth-resolved and depth-averaged) based on MPM.In 2020, I obtained a SPARK grant to develop a new approach to simulate and better understand complex process chains in gravitational mass movements, including permafrost instabilities, rock, snow and ice avalanches and transitions to debris flows.
Denise Bertschi2020
Manor Art Prize, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau/CH
Solo show, opening: 24.01.2019, curated by Yasmin Afschar
2019
Swiss Art Awards Nomination, Messehalle 3, Basel, 10.–15. June 2019 Bundesamt für Kultur, Bern
MOST BEAUTIFUL SWISS BOOKS Winner with self-published artist publication "We Say We Are Fine. They Say We Are Not."
20.–23. June 2019 & ongoing international traveling exhibitionHelmhaus Zürich
LE FOYER – IN PROCESS 20.11.2019
ACT 4, N°8: Denise Bertschi, Naturama Natural History Museum, Aarau
2018
ARTIVIST Johannesburg, South Africa 5.9. – 30.10.2018
«NEUTRALITY AS AN AGENT»
Solo exhibition, in the frame of the 20th anniversary of Pro Helvetia in Southern Africa, invited by Joseph Gaylard (SA)
*ALTEFABRIK
Gebert Stiftung für Kultur, Rapperswil
15.9. – 28.10.2018
«FOREVER OR IN A HUNDRED YEARS – Denise Bertschi (CH) and Inas Halabi (Palestine)»
Duo show, curated by Josiane Imhasly
MKG Hamburg Museum für unsere transkulturelle Gegenwart
13.4. – 14.10.2018
«MOBILE WELTEN»
Group exhibition, curated by Roger M. Buergel and Sophia Prinz
*ALTEFABRIK
Gebert Stiftung für Kultur, Rapperswil
24.3. – 6.5.2018 «TARNEN, TÄUSCHEN, IMMITIEREN»
Group exhibition, curated by Josiane Imhasly
LOKAL-INT Biel/Bienne
28.1.2018
Film screening: «NAMIBIA RAWCUT»
2017
JOHANN JACOBS MUSEUM Zürich
29.08.2017 – 28.01.2018 COFFEE FROM HELVÉCIA
Curated by Marcelo Rezende (Archiv der Avant-Garden Dresden)
2016
AUSWAHL 16, AARGAUER KUNSTHAUS
Group show, winner of NAB Förderpreis 2016
KUNSTVEREIN Zürich
MANIFESTA Zürich – PARALLEL EVENTS
«How to Waste time, with Denise Bertschi»
Performance-Series, curated by Nico Ruffo and Nele Dechmann
CORNER COLLEGE Zürich
8.12.2015 – 28.1.2016
«COLD.WAR.HOT.STARS»
Group show, curated by Dimitrina Sevova
ROSABRUX, Brüssel
27.1.2015 «PROTECTION ROOM»
Group show
WITS University of the Arts, Johannesburg/SA
12.2.–22.2.2015
«POETICS OF RELATION»
Exhibition project, initiated by Uriel Orlow and Bettina Malcomess
2014
Artsonje Art Center, Seoul South Korea
«Territories of Assembly» Curated by Markus Miessen, Berlin
LiveInYourHead, Genève
«MANDATORY PASSIVITY»
Group show, curated by Lars Bang Larsen
