Hunziker Christopher T.

Christopher T. Hunziker was born in Atlanta (USA) in 1956, the son of Swiss architect Walter Hunziker. After studying art history, mathematics, physics and architecture in the USA and Switzerland, Hunziker embarked on a career as an artist. In his work, the artist formally explores fictional spatial structures, light installations and artistic interventions in existing architecture. While the artist's works often superficially display minimalist traits, they also frequently make reference to art history and raise socio-political issues. The sculpture "Rose - a sleeping sculpture - Clone" presented at this year's Swiss Triennial, for example, opens up a discursive space that extends far beyond the sculpture itself: while the portrait of a ruler was predominant in sculptural work from antiquity to the Baroque period, alongside mythological and sacred representations, new metaphorical content became relevant in the 18th and 19th centuries. An example of this is Rodin's "Thinker", which symbolises the emerging rationalism of modern times. As a result, industrialisation and mechanisation took over. The dominance of industry and capital lead to alienation, even man himself becomes a commodity in a globalised and digitalised world. But how can a sculpture or a monument look in a world that is exclusively focussed on profit, progress and (re)production? Perhaps like a peacefully sleeping giantess that seems to be out of this world and whisks us away to a place where there is still room for thoughts and dreams.

Quote 

«If Rodin's famous sculpture "The Thinker" is a symbol of the reflective human being of modern times (René Descartes: "I think therefore I am"), I ask myself what a sculpture of a human figure must look like today if it is to be a symbol of thought for all those who can think but also have big dreams? We have a dream!» (Martin Luther King 1963)