From 9 to 13 May 2026, the Centre for Advanced Study held a writing retreat entitled “Zugänge zu Künstlerinnen der Moderne: Auf den Spuren Sophie Taeuber-Arp in Trogen” (“Exploring Modern Female Artists: Following in the Footsteps of Sophie Taeuber-Arp in Trogen”). It was aimed at PhD students in art history. A key focus of the writing retreat was the study of the avant-garde artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889–1943), whose home during childhood and youth was in Trogen (Switzerland). To gain an insight into her work, participants followed in her footsteps on site. To mark the 80th anniversary of her death in 2023, her life there has been researched, and an exhibition has been set up in the waiting room of Trogen railway station to document the artist’s early life and creative phase, alongside a documentary website. During short walks, the PhD students traced the artist’s footsteps and visited the exhibition as well as other (art) historical testimonies of the genius loci.

In addition to developing an approach to Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work, the focus was on text production: the aim was to alleviate uncertainties in the final phase of the PhD, to structure the working process and to speed up the submission of dissertations. Various writing techniques were explored, writing pairs formed, and discussion of issues relating to the writing process encouraged. Last but not least, the retreat served to provide mutual support during the final phase of the doctoral process.

For more information on the life of Sophie Taeuber-Arp, you can visit https://sophie-taeuber-arp.ch.