Sige Nagels
What would it be like if you had the guts to follow your dreams?
If you dared to move just the way you are?
If you made a choice by the heart, unhindered by expecta ons of others?
If you dared to move just the way you see the world through your own eyes to inspire people?
Sige Nagels from Antwerp, Belgium, graduated as an engineer-architect. For years, she worked on a promising career in the construction sector. As a project manager, she ran construction sites worth millions – and she did well. But what seemed like a success story for the outside world, didn’t feel like success at all for Sige.
A move to Zurich – and a farewell to her demanding job – initially brought Sige peace of mind. For a number of years, she put the care for her family front and center. And no matter how much that filled her heart, she had the nagging feeling that something else was waiting for her. A mission that had been hiding under her skin for a long time and that was looking for a way to the surface.
She finally made a decision during Zurich Manifesta 2016. From now on, she would devote herself to painting, in the only way that Sige could do that: with 100% pure dedication.
“There’s always a choice.”
Since then you can find Sige in her studio, high in her Swiss attic. Compositions of surfaces and shapes alternate with abstract works and perspectives in striking colors. Bound by no specific training or style, Sige turns abstract concepts into concrete shapes and colors.
Indeed, Sige regards the fact that she did not receive classical training in the arts as a major asset: it ensures that she can approach her art unconditionally and freely.
Freedom in and of itself is the ultimate theme for Sige. Through her work, she answers pressing questions about freedom and how it showed itself in her own life. Your world could seem limited. The world could seem limited. Solutions could seem limited. Or as humans, do we tend to hide behind the phrase ‘that’s just the way it is’? Honestly, is your filter really useful? What do you do to support yourself to turn on your own light?
People call Sige’s choice for the arts “a courageous decision.” Sige, for her part, does not understand why anyone wouldn’t follow their heart. “I know this is my path. What message would I give my children if I didn’t follow it?”, Sige smiles. With her work, Sige aims to inspire others to choose their own happiness.
Narchitecture
The work depicts different locations in Zurich in 2050 from a bird’s perspective – interwoven landscapes where the line between nature and human beings dissolves. It creates a world of wonder, a space of imagination of how the city could immediately address climate change. The ideas strike with a sense of impartiality and are at the same time based on accurate research founded on the artist’s own work experience as an architectural engineer.
Let’s crack open existing beliefs and shine a light on neighborhoods across Zurich, opening up the imagination to what is already possible!
Narchitecture zeigt verschiedene Orte Zürichs im Jahr 2050 aus der Vogelperspektive – verwobene Landschaften, in denen sich die Grenze zwischen Natur und Mensch auflöst. Es schafft eine Welt des Staunens, einen Raum der Phantasie und zeigt Visionen, wie die Stadt dem Klimawandel begegnen könnte. Die Ideen überzeugen durch ihre Unvoreingenommenheit – gleichzeitig fundieren sie auf Sige Nagels eigener Arbeitserfahrung als Bauingenieurin.
Durch das Aufbrechen bestehender Denkmuster kann Zürich in einem neuen Licht betrachtet werden und neue Möglichkeiten für eine Zukunft in der Stadt tun sich auf.
