Andreas Heusser

Andreas Heusser (born 1976) is a Swiss conceptual artist and curator, based in Zurich and Johannesburg.

Andreas Heusser
Andreas Heusser in the mobile exhibition space of the No Show Museum, 2015
Andreas Heusser in the mobile exhibition space of the No Show Museum, 2015
Born1976
EducationPhilosophy, German literature
Alma materUniversity of Zurich
Occupation(s)artist, art curator
Years active2013 - present
Websitewww.andreasheusser.com

Education

After completing the intermediate diploma in psychology from 1999–2001, Andreas Heusser studied philosophy and German literature at the University of Zurich, closing with a master's degree in both subjects in 2003. Between 2011 and 2013 he attended the Bern University of Arts and completed a master's degree in contemporary arts practice (fine arts).[1]

Career

2013, Heusser developed the No Show Museum, a museum dedicated to nothing and its various manifestations throughout the history of art.[2] The museum has a mobile presentation space in a converted postal car.[3] In 2015, the No Show Museum started a world tour with the mission to spread nothing: The first stage lasted from July to October 2015 through Europe, staging around 30 exhibitions in 20 different countries, before the museum was arriving in Italy and participating at the 56th Venice Art Biennale.[4] In the summer of 2016, the mobile museum was shipped from Europe to America, where an 80-day exhibition tour led from New York to Canada, then to the West Coast of the U.S., and finally down to Baja California Sur, Mexico.[5] The third stage of the world tour took place from November 2017 to January 2018 and led from Mexico through the countries of Central America to Colombia.[6] The fourth stage led from October to November 2018 through Western Europe with exhibitions in France, Spain and Portugal, including a show the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon.[7]

Political art projects

As an artist, Heusser became first known for a series of satirical long-term projects that bridge the gap between art and activism, among them:

  • War Development Aid (KEH, launched 2009 with Nüssli/Oeschger), was aimed to expose the hypocrisies on politicians who subordinate their Christian and humanitarian principles to the interests of the arms industry.[8]
  • Organization to Solve the Foreigner Question (OLAF, launched 2010 with Nüssli/Oeschger), was conceived as a counterpropaganda to the xenophobic campaign of the Swiss right wing party (SVP) which demanded to expel all criminal foreigners. OLAF pretended to be a close ally and partner organization of the SVP, but it was so extreme in its claims that it became ridiculous.[9]
  • Christian Humanitarian Asylum Self-Aid Organization Switzerland (CHASOS, 2011) was a satirical reaction on how media and politicians reinforced xenophobic prejudices by evoking the dystopia of gigantic waves of refugees after the Arab Spring.[10]

All three were fictional organizations which imitated and parodied real institutions. The projects mainly took place outside of art institutions, and involved counterfeiting websites, propaganda videos, press releases, social media, and other forms of dissemination.[11] Tactics like provocation, public interventions and hoaxes were used to create controversy and generate media coverage in dominant media outlets.[12] Despite the satiric content, the fake organizations and fictitious characters were often mistaken for real.[13]

Curatorial works

Literaturfestival Zürich

Heusser is the founder and director of the Literaturfestival Zürich (formerly: Openair Literatur Festival Zürich), an international week-long literary festival which has taken place annually in Zurich since 2013. The festival is jointly presented by Kaufleuten and Literaturhaus Zurich.[14] The festival has featured John M. Coetzee, Junot Diaz, Julian Barnes, Roxane Gay, John Banville, John Cleese, Rebecca Solnit, David Mitchell (author), Carolin Emcke.[15]

The Institute

Heusser is a founding member and co-director of The Institute, a project space for performing and transdisciplinary arts in Zurich. Several artists collectives from different artistic fields (film, music, dance, literature, performance) are involved and contribute with weekly events and performances to the public programme of the venue which also includes research and workshops.[16]

Kaufleuten

Between 2011 and 2013, Heusser was the program director of the cultural venue "Kaufleuten" where he was responsible for the curation and implementation of around 200 cultural events per year, including concerts by international artists and bands, readings, podiums and cabaret events.[17]

Series and festivals

In 2001, Heusser and Marc Rychener founded the interdisciplinary artist collective index based in Zurich. With index he organized a number of concert series, performances and festivals (e.g. "Festival der Künste" 2002, "Lyrik am Fluss" 2002–2005). In 2005, he initiated the international Artist-in-Residence-program Freiraum-Stipendium.[18] In 2005, Heusser converted his artist studio at Elisabethenstrasse 14a into a venue.[19]

Select solo exhibitions
  • Valie Export Center, Linz, Austria, 10/2019[20]
  • Espacio Naranjo in Madrid, Spain, 11/2018[21]
  • Espacio Oculto in Madrid, Spain, 11/2018[22]
  • Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon, Portugal, 11/2018[7]
  • MUTUO Centro de Arte en Barcelona, Spain, 10/2018[23]
  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogota, Colombia, 1/2018[24]
  • Centro de Arte Despacio, San José, Costa Rica, 12/2017[25]
  • Galería Códice, Managua, Nicaragua, 12/2017[26]
  • Museo de Arte de El Salvador (MARTE), San Salvador, El Salvador, 12/2017[27]
  • Galería El Sótano, Guatemala City, Guatemala, 11/2017[28]
  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (MACO), Oaxaca, Mexico, 11/2017[29]
  • Ice Cube Gallery, Denver, Colorado, USA, 09/2016[30]
  • Fort Gondo, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, 09/2016 [31]
  • Defibrillator Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 09/2016[32]
  • Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 09/2016[33]
  • Enriched Bread Artists, Ottawa, Canada, 08/2016[34]
  • 56. Biennale di Venezia, Salon Suisse / Palazzo Trevisan and Lido, Venice, Italy, 10/2015[35]
  • Lauba Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia, 10/2015[36]
  • Chimera-Project Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, 10/2015[37]
  • Umelka Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia, 09/2015[38]
  • #Poligon Art Space, Warsaw, Poland, 09/2015[39]
  • Grimmuseum, Berlin, Germany, 08/2015[40]
  • Museum Strauhof, Zürich, Switzerland, 07/2015[41]

Select group exhibitions
  • "Ours Is Not The Only Planet Earth Has Been", Ballroom Projects, Chicago, 10/2016[24]
  • Survival K(n)it Festival 7, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia, 09/2015[42]
  • Kling-Festival, Mansbach, Germany, 08/2015[43]
  • Kabinett der Visionäre, Chur, Switzerland, 06/2015[44]
  • Doing Nothing Festival, Dock 18, Rote Fabrik, Zürich, Switzerland, 5/2015[45]
  • "Show Me Show Me Show Me", CentrePasqArt, Biel, Switzerland, 6/2013[46]
  • Werkpreis Kanton Zürich, F+F Schule, Zürich, Switzerland, 10/2011[47]

Awards and grants
  • 2019 City of Zurich Art Award for No Show Museum - From Dada to Nada[48]

See also

References
  1. cf. List of students, 2010/
  2. "No Show Museum", www.noshowmuseum.com
  3. "Das Nichts ist unser aller Horizont". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). 2015-05-27.
  4. Steiner, Juri; Zweifel, Stefan (2015-11-22). "Pro Helvetia's platform to present the Swiss contributions to the Venice Biennials". biennials.ch. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  5. Brainard Carey (July 11, 2016). "Andreas Heusser". Interviews from Yale Radio (Podcast).
  6. Dargel, Beatrix (Jan 2018). "Nichts zu sehen!" (PDF). Kultur & Technik. Deutsches Museum (Hsg.).
  7. "Nothing matters – Icons of the void | MAAT". Maat.pt. Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  8. Waffen für Kids? Jetzt reichts!, Blick am Abend, 18 November 2009
  9. cf. "Sammeltag für Ausländer, Bundesplatz Bern". olafschweiz (2010-11-26), "Beissende Ironie: Wie Satiriker auf populistische Kampagnen reagieren". SF 1 (2010-12-01)
  10. "ARD Tagesthemen vom 15 June 2011 über CHASOS" ARD (2011-08-15)
  11. "Provokation verbreitet sich im Internet". www.kampagnenpraxis.de.
  12. "ARD-Tagesthemen über OLAF", ARD (2011-08-15).
  13. cf.:
  14. "Aktuell - Openair Literatur Festival Zürich". literaturopenair.ch (in German). 2016-03-08. Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2019-02-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. "Die besten Momente mit John Cleese". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  16. "Das Institut" (in German). 2016-03-07. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  17. "Puppen, Coci – Das Skandal-Interview mit dem Kaufleuten-Kulturchef". Kulturkanal11 (2011-04-24)
  18. "Freiraum". wort und wirkung (in German). 2016-03-17. Archived from the original on 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  19. "Vorgeschichte 2005 – 2013 - Das Institut". theinstitute.ch (in German). 2016-03-06. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2019-02-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  20. "WTF is Live Art? Nixtasy - VALIE EXPORT Center Linz| Kurzbeschreibung".
  21. "NO SHOW MUSEUM". Espacio Naranjo (in Spanish). 2018-11-11. Archived from the original on 2018-12-05. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  22. "Nada está presente - 16 NOV 2018". Evensi.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  23. "No Show Museum en Mutuo | Todas las exposiciones y eventos de arte en Barcelona". Artssspot.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  24. "No Show Museum". No Show Museum. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  25. "No Show Museum - Costa Rica". My Art Guides. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  26. "No Show Museum llega a Nicaragua - LVDS". Lavozdelsandinismo.com. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  27. Ana Laura B. Villalta (16 November 2017). "Museo de la Nada en MARTE". Americanosfera. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  28. Guatemela, elPeriodico de (2017-11-28). "El arte en la ausencia". elPeriodico (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  29. juan manuel lupercio navarro (22 November 2017). "El NO SHOW MUSEUM en el MACO - Crónica de Oaxaca". Cronicadeoaxaca.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  30. "Connecting People Through News". Retrieved 2019-02-01 – via PressReader.
  31. "NO SHOW Museum @ fort gondo : Cherokee Street – St. Louis, MO". Cherokeestreetnews.org. 2016-09-24. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  32. "NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE | dfbrl8rdfbrl8r". Dfbrl8r.org. 2016-09-17. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  33. "Scrap Metal Gallery". Connorcrawford.com. 2016-09-01. Archived from the original on 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  34. Opalski, Michal (2016-08-25). "No Show Museum, Zurich & South Africa 2016". Guyberube.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  35. "The October guests of the Salon Suisse" (PDF). biennials.ch. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  36. Novak, Jakov (6 October 2015). "Nothing opens in Lauba gallery tonight!". Just Zagreb. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  37. "Museum - Deutsches Museum" (PDF).
  38. "No Show Museum" (in Slovak). PartyMenu.eu. 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  39. "The Art of Nothing / No Show Museum | Matosek Niezgoda". Matosekniezgoda.pl. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  40. "Dem Nichts Raum geben – das NO SHOW MUSEUM zu Besuch in Berlin". Art-in-berlin.de. 2015-08-14. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  41. Matesic, Philip (2018-12-04). "Wild Cards – Strauhof". Strauhof (in German). Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  42. "Programme | SURVIVAL K(N)IT 7". Survivalkit.lv. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  43. "Das No-Show-Room Museum auf Tour – kling 'pause'". kling 'pause' – 2018 (in German). 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  44. "Rückblick - Kabinett der Visionäre". Kabinettdervisionaere.jimdo.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  45. "Eirini Sourgiadaki | ZHdK". Zhdk.ch. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  46. "Vergangene Veranstaltungen – Kunsthaus". Pasquart.ch. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  47. "EXHIBITIONS - Swiss Conceptual Artist and Curator". Andreasheusser.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  48. "City of Zurich Art Grants". CH-ZH: stadt-zuerich.ch. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
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