Andreas Heusser


Andreas Heusser is a Swiss conceptual artist and curator, based in Zurich and Johannesburg.

Education

After completing the intermediate diploma in Psychology, Andreas Heusser studied Philosophy and German Literature at the University of Zurich, closing with a master degree in both subjects. Between 2011 and 2013 he attended the Bern University of Arts and completed another master degree in Contemporary Arts Practice.

Exploration of Nothing

Since 2013, Andreas Heusser has devoted himself to the exploration of nothing in art, philosophy and science. This has developed into the No Show Museum, a museum dedicated to nothing and its various throughout the history of art. The museum's collection includes around 500 works and documents from over 150 international artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The museum also has a mobile presentation space in a converted postal car. In 2015, the No Show Museum started a world tour with the mission to spread nothing: The first stage led 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.
In the summer of 2016, the mobile museum was shipped from Europe to America: The 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. 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. 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 in Lisbon.

Political Art Projects

As an artist, Andreas Heusser became first known for a series of satirical long-term projects that bridge the gap between art and activism, among them:
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. Tactics like provocation, public interventions and hoaxes were used to create controversy and generate media coverage in dominant media outlets. Despite the satiric content, the fake organizations and fictitious characters were often mistaken for real.

Curatorial works

Openair Literatur Festival Zürich

Andreas Heusser is the founder and director of the Openair Literatur Festival Zürich, an international literary festival which annually takes place for the duration of a week in the Old Botanical Garden in Zurich, since 2011. The festival is jointly presented by Kaufleuten and Literaturhaus Zurich, in cooperation with other cultural institutions. The festival has featured artists of international renown, such as John M. Coetzee, Junot Diaz, David Mitchell, John Cleese, Sven Regener, Teju Cole, Xiaolu Guo, Gerhard Rühm and Friedrich Achleitner, Roger Willemsen, Gerhard Polt.

The Institute

Andreas 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 are involved and contribute with weekly events and performances to the public programme of the venue which also includes research and workshops.

Kaufleuten

Between 2011 and 2013, Andreas 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.

Series and Festivals

In 2001, Andreas Heusser founded together with Marc Rychener the interdisciplinary artist collective :de:Index – Wort und Wirkung|index based in Zurich. With index he organized a number of concert series, performances and festivals. In 2005, he initiated the international Artist-in-Residence-program Freiraum-Stipendium which is open to artists from all disciplines. In 2005, Andreas Heusser converted his artist studio at Elisabethenstrasse 14a into a cultural venue, where he staged 3–4 events per month until 2011, including a program cinema and the concert and performance series "Mikro".

Solo exhibitions