Frank and Patrik Riklin build enormous picnic blanket in the Swiss Alps

The phrase “artistic intervention” has a chequered past, but we’re struggling to think of a more impressive example than Frank and Patrik Riklin’s BIGNIK. The ongoing project aims to build a huge picnic cloth by 2040, made up of 252,144 panels – one for every person in the Appenzell region of Switzerland.

They brothers recently unveiled their current progress which already makes for some jaw-dropping visuals (many taken by helicopter) and it’s astonishing to think that they don’t expect to be half-way there for another 13 years. Each red or white panel is made up cloth that was once towels, bed sheets, curtains and the like and the local population is being encouraged to donate and create this ambitious piece.

The artists say: “BIGNIK is no event in the traditional sense. It is an artistic intervention that draws on the locally available resources… It is the attempt to create a unique collaborative tradition for the region; a platform for encounters and stories.”