“Bear fruit” is the name of a monumental sculpture by the artist Simone Holliger. The work is a gift from Switzerland to the World Health Organization (WHO). Federal Councilor Alain Berset and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus inaugurated it on Sunday.

A gallery connects the old WHO headquarters from 1966 with a new building. A system of interconnected aluminum tubes now stretches across this gallery – inspired by the blood circulation, the nervous system, and the metabolism. The work is called “bearing fruit”.

The Swiss artist Simone Holliger designed it specifically for the new building that complements the WHO headquarters. Holliger sees her work as a manifesto for kinship and the bond between individuals. This also includes the close connection between people and the elements of nature.” That is what it says in a statement from the Federal Office of Culture (BAK) on Sunday.

In her sculptures and installations, Holliger experiments with the properties of the materials. She plays with their limits, as the BAK writes. In 2019 she was awarded a Swiss art prize and has exhibited in the art museums of St. Gallen and Solothurn, among others.

The art museum La Chaux-de-Fonds NE tells the artist in the coming weeks a solo exhibition. Holliger was born in Aarau in 1986; today she lives in Basel.

With its gift, Switzerland will underscore its support for the WHO. As early as 1966, when the headquarters were opened, the Confederation had given the WHO the “Bronze Portal”. This is a work by the sculptor Franz Fischer. There was also a work by the painter Hans Erni.