Christoph Büchel

Christoph Büchel (born 1966) is a Swiss-Icelandic artist known for provocative contemporary installations. He received international attention for constructing a mosque in a Venice church and suggesting that prototypes for Donald Trump's wall should be considered land art.[1]

Early life and education

Christoph Büchel was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1966.[2] Around 2007 he moved to Iceland. [2]

Selected works

For the 2015 Venice Biennale, Christoph Büchel contributed Iceland's national pavilion which consisted of a conceptual work of art which transformed a 10th-century Catholic church into a generic mosque.[3] Labeled The Mosque: The First Mosque in the Historic City of Venice, it was partly inspired by disputes in Iceland over building the first purpose-built Reykjavík Mosque.[2][4] Citing permit violations, the Venetian authorities closed the installation.[5][2]

Büchel encouraged artistic recognition of eight prototypes of the border wall erected near the US-Mexico border. Büchel mobilized support through an online petition. [1]

Personal life

Büchel has an Icelandic wife and a son.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Walker, Michael (3 January 2018). "Is Donald Trump, Wall-Builder-in-Chief, a Conceptual Artist?". New York Times. New York. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 York Underwood, 'Life Imitating Art: Iceland’s “Mosque” Installation In Venice', The Reykjavík Grapevine (June 6, 2015), https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2015/06/06/life-imitating-art-icelands-mosque-installation-in-venice/.
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBVwk1dQG4
  4. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/arts/design/police-shut-down-mosque-installation-at-venice-biennale.html
  5. ↑ http://ncac.org/blog/art-censorship-in-response-to-speculative-threats/


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