Vanessa Billy Biography

 

Born 1978 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland.

Education

2001
BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art, London, UK

2000
Exchange semester at The Cooper Union School, New York, US

Solo Exhibitions

2019
Impressions de Vies, Parc Saint Léger, Pougues-les-Eaux, FR
The White Goddess, Galleria Gentili, Firenze, IT (curated by Rita Selvaggio)

2018
Future Perfect, Assembly Point, London, UK

2017
Dear Life, Centre Culturelle Suisse, Paris

2016
We Dissolve, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland
all is porous, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

2015
Where is Wild?, c-o-m-p-o-s-i-t-e, Brussels, Belgium
Stranded, Limoncello, London, UK
GRANPALAZZO, Palazzo Rospiglioni, Zagarolo, Rome, IT

2014
Sustain, Sustain, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
permeate, Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp, Cully, Switzerland

2013
Clean Cold Fire, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
Dear Energy, Sommer & Kohl, Berlin, Germany
vider la terre pour remplir le ciel, Piano Nobile, Geneva, Switzerland

2012
Frame, Frieze Art Fair, with BolteLang, New York, USA

2011
looking for the pool, unosolo project room, Milan, Italy
Not Taught, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
Three times a day, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, Switzerland
Natural means something like vegetables, Christina Wilson Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2010
Who Shapes What, Limoncello, London, UK

2009
stream river lake river stream, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland
Surfaces for the mind to rest or to sink into, Project Space, The Photographer’s Gallery, London, UK

2008
Solo presentation with BolteLang, Kunst 08 Zürich, Switzerland
Flexible Values, Limoncello, London, UK
Empty Centres, with Pamela Rosenkranz, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

Group Exhibitions

2019
Il Grande Female, BolteLang, Zürich, Switzerland
Konkrete Gegenwart — Jetzt ist immer auch ein bisschen gestern und morgen, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland

2018
Kunstankäufe der Stadt Zürich 2011-2018, Helmhaus, Zürich, Switzerland
Citrus North, easy!upstram, Munich, Germany (curated by Susi Gelb)
20, Les Halles, Porrentruy, Switzerland
On Unsteady Ground, CCA, Hubbell Street Galleries, San Francisco, USA
Europe in China / Opus II, Qingdao Sculpture Museum, Qingdao China
Vanessa Billy, Markus Gadient, Barbara Maria Meyer, Edit Oderbolz, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, Switzerland

2017
von den KünstlerInnen aus…, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, Switzerland
Slow Objects, The Common Guild, with Edith Dekyndt and Erin Sheriff, Glasgow, UK
La Ruche et la Valise, Villa Bernasconi, Geneva, Switzerland
Le Charme Indiscret, Kunstraum Riehen, Basel, Switzerland
Collection Show, PS8 Playspace, California College of the Arts, San Fransisco, USA
ORIGINAL FAKE, Maisterravalbuena, Madrid, ES (curated by Adam Carr)
Freshwater Fish, Sommer Contemporary, Tel-Aviv, IS
La Vie, Mode d’Emploi, Centre d’Art Contemporain Chanot, Clamart, FR

2016
The Concave Mirror, BACO, Bergamo, IT
PROJECT 1049, site-specific artist led exhibition, LUMA foundation, Gstaad, Switzerland
Refine all Pores, Peekaboo, Kunstverein Wagenhalle, Stuttgart, Germany
Exercises in style, Suprainfinit Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
Colony Collapse Disorder, Sonnenstube, Lugano, Switzerland (curated by Isaline Vuille and Laura Guidici)
good things come, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK
WAR II, Mostyn, Llandudno, UK

2015
Demain dans la bataille, pense à moi, Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, France
ANTHROPOCENE, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Belgium
Alive for an instant, Stereo, Warsaw, Poland

Local Objects, IKEYAZHANG, Milan, Italy (curated by Rita Selvaggio)
Waterbound, Kallmann Museum, Ismaning, Germany
The Infinite Lawn, Tenderpixel, London, UK
TAVERNA, as part of Icastica, City Arts Festival, Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy (curated by Ilaria Gianni)
Art en plein air, Môtiers, Switzerland
Engagements, Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, France
Partial Presence, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK

2014
Time remembered, Wiliam Arnold, New York, USA
Le geste des matériaux, Centre d’Art Bastille, Grenoble, France
Swiss Art Awards, Basel, Switzerland
Emergences, Sculpture Triennale, Bex & Arts, Switzerland
Thinking Things, Cafe gallery Projet, London, UL (curated by Frances Loeffler)
Cocu ou marron, CAN, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Stone, Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, AV Festival 14: Extraction, Sunderland, UK

2013
Blow-flies, Photoforum, Centre PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland
No name, On Stellar rays, New York, USA
V22 Collection Show, V22, London, UK
Le pas funambule, Les halles de la Fonderie Carouge, Piano Nobile, Geneva, Switzerland
Collection Joseph Koulis, Mains d’Œuvres, Saint-Ouen, France

2012
La jeunesse est un art, Jubiläum Manor Kunstpreis, Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau, Switzerland
A drawing while waiting for an idea, Large Glass, London, UK
Artists as Storytellers, Sic! Raum für Kunst, Lucerne, Switzerland
Collecting Collections and Concepts, Guimarães, Portugal (curated by Paolo Mendes)
Minimal Structures – New Existentialism Part 5, Alte Fabrik, Rapperswil, Switzerland (curated by Alexandra Blättler)
Manufacture, Centre Pasqu’art, Biel, Switzerland (curated by Zoe Gray and Sandra Patron)
Economy of means; towards humility in contemporary sculpture, SMoCA, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ, USA

2011
…there is a crack in everything, Michael Janssen Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Possession, The Art Foundation, Athens, GR (curated by Lorenzo Gentili)
Young London, V22 Workspace, London, UK
Drop Handkerchief Backdrop, 1857, Oslo, Norway
some things come from nothing, nothing seems to come from something, Galeria Nuno Centeno, Porto, Portugal
Keep Floors and Passages clear, White Columns, New York, USA (project by Tom Godfrey)

2010
Recent British Sculpture, Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (curated by Tom Morton)
Session_9_Object, Am Nuden Da, London, UK
The Zero Budget Biennial, Cardenas Bellanger, France (curated by Johanna Fiduccia and Chris Sharp)

2009
Suns Neither Rise Nor Set, Royal College of Art, Hockney Gallery, London, UK
Boule to Braid, Lisson Gallery, London, UK (curated by Richard Wentworth)
Double Object, Thomas Dane, London, UK (curated by Leigh Robb)
Young people visit our ruins and see nothing but style, GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino, Turin, Italy (curated by Form/Content)
Timewarp, Centre Rhenan d’Art Contemporain Alsace, Altkirch, France (curated by Felicity Lunn)
I am by birth a Genevese, Vegas Gallery, London, UK and Forde, Geneva, Switzerland
Contested Ground, Project Space 176, London, UK

2008
100 Years, 100 Artists, 100 Works of Art, A Foundation, Art on the Underground commission, London, UK
ARTfutures, Bloomberg Space, London, UK
Empty Centres, with Pamela Rosenkranz, BolteLang, Zurich, Switzerland

Commissions

2018
Tränen, public art comission, Jubiläum 500 years Reformation, St. Peter Church, Zurich, Switzerland

2016
Migros Tragtasche, Migros carrier bag design commission, Migros Kulturprozent, Switzerland

2014
Back to the Beginning, Detroit, temporary sculpture commission, Bristol Temple Meads, UK

2013
Leiter, Leichter, Weiter, Stadt Zürich, Kunst and Bau, permanent public work, Ilgen Schule, Römerhof, Switzerland

2012
Lifting the Earth, Art and the City, temporary public sculpture, Zürich West, Switzerland *

2009
Two Trees, Regents Park, Frieze Sculpture Park, London, UK

Publications & Books (selected)

Fountain, with writing by Thogdin Ripley, published by Rollo Press, December 2018
Fare Luce/Shedding Light
, Inventario, edited by Beppe Finessi, Corraini Edizioni, Milan, Italy, March 2017
FLAC Guide Contemporain Vol. III, Editions Payot, Nov 2016
Young London 2011-2013, Grey Books, 2014
TAKE, artist book published by Piano Nobile, February 2013
Cahiers d’artiste, Artist Monograph, Pro Helvetia, 2010
Why Shapes What, Artist book designed by Kellenberger-White, published by Ditto Press, 2010
Shaping Sculpture, edited by George Unsworth for University of Arts, London, UK, 2010
FLATWORK, edited with Kitty Anderson, London, UK, 2008
No visible means of support, Artist book, Geneva, Switzerland, 2006
Sexymachinery, London, UK, 2002

Bibliography (selected)

Substance and its behaviour: Vanessa Billy, Conversations, Mousse Magazine, February 2019
Glut und Tränen im St. Peter
, by Urs Bühler, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 21th December 2018
Tränen für St. Peter, by Claudia Jolles, Kunstbulletin, December 2018
Le Phare, Le vivant et le déchet, by Isaline Vuille, no. 25, p.8, Jan 2017
Artforum, Review by Javier Hontoria, Nov 2016
Kunstbulletin, Fokus by Deborah Keller, Nov 2016
Thought Through Things, Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith, Exhibition text, Collective, October 2014
Bilanz, Künstler-Rating 2012: Art in der Grenze, portrait by Brigitte Ulmer, June 2012
Arte e Critica, Vanessa Billy: Forme in divenire, by Valentina Briguglio, No. 69, Dec 2011
Kunstbulletin, Vanessa Billy, Portrait by Daniel Morgenthaler, Dec 2011
Frieze, Focus by Jonathan Griffin, Issue 138, April 2011
Basler Zeitung, insert edited by Adam Szymezyk, Basel, Switzerland, 15th of June 2010
Art Review, London Reviews Marathon, by JJ Charlesworth, Issue 40, April, pp. 78-80, April 2010
This is Tomorrow, Vanessa Billy: Who Shapes What, by Mihaela Vazari, March 2010
Art Monthly, The Photographic Object, by David Ryan, no. 327, 6.09, pp. 28-29, June 2009
Flash Art, London Artists Dictionary, No. 262, p. 89, Oct 2008,
Frieze, Flexible Values, by Chris Fite-Wassilak, p. 234, Jun-Aug 2008

 

* with catalogue

 

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