Marie–José Burki (born 1961) is a Swiss visual artist and educator. She is best known for

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. V ...

, but also has worked in

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...

. Her work is interested in exploring the interaction between words and images, the passing of time, and the narrative story. Burki teaches at

Beaux-Arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...

. She lives between

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Biography

Marie José Burki was born on 11 January 1961 in

Biel Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

. She attended the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

, where she studied

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

and history. She later attended the

École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève (English: ''School of Fine Arts, Geneva''), was an art school founded in 1748 in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2006, the school was merged with the Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD). History The � ...

. She is married to Mitja Tušek. Burki has collaborated on artwork with her spouse Tušek (born 1961) and Éric Lanz (born 1962). Burki and Lanz formed the art collective ''Bel Veder'', and joined the Gen Lock association''.'' In 1986, Burki and Lanz had their first large exhibition at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris. From 1989 to 1990, she had a one year art residency at

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

; and took part in the related group exhibition, ''National and International Studio Artist Exhibition Series 1989–1990'' (from 1989 to 1990) at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

(MoMA). In 1993, Burki was awarded the

Manor Cultural Prize Manor Cultural Prize (; ) is a Swiss fine arts prize awarded every two years by the Manor (department store) alongside art museums in 12 Swiss cities, which was founded in 1982 in Lucerne. The goal is to promote emerging artists under the age of 40 ...

for the

Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of forty-five Municipality, municipalities, and the seat of the governme ...

. Burki's first major solo exhibition took place in 1995 at the

Kunsthalle Basel Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art established in the year of 1872, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre ...

. Her first solo exhibition in the United States was at Lehman Maupin gallery in 1998; which featured the video installation of ''Exposure: Dawn, 1997''. She taught art at the

École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon The École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon is a school of art and design in Lyon, located in Les Subsistances, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. It is part of the École des Beaux-Arts traditio ...

. From 2003 to 2008, Burki was professor of video art at the

University of Fine Arts of Hamburg A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

().

Artwork

Her early video art work, ''Celui qui a vu passer les éléphants blancs'' (English: ''He Who Saw the White Elephants Pass By'') (1985, runtime: 11 minutes) won film festival awards, and is held in video collection libraries (

Kunsthaus Zürich The Kunsthaus Zürich is an art museum in Zurich. It is the biggest art museum in Switzerland by area and houses one of the most important art collections in Switzerland, assembled over time by the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, a nonprofit art soc ...

; and

Centre pour l'Image Contemporaine The Centre pour l'Image Contemporaine or CIC was a contemporary art exhibition centre in Geneva, Switzerland. CIC was established in 1985 to organize events and exhibitions of images using new technologies such as video, multimedia, and the Internet ...

, Saint-Gervais, Geneva). Her large scale, multi-channel video work on different walls, ''Exposure: Dawn'' (1997, runtime: approx. 20 minutes), features storefront prostitutes in a red-light district with cars passing and reflections of light. Burki's single channel video, ''Chicken'' (2000, runtime: 6 minutes), features a chef preparing a dead chicken for a meal.

References

External links

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1961 births Living people Swiss women artists University of Geneva alumni Alumni of the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève Swiss video artists 21st-century Swiss educators 21st-century Swiss women educators Swiss installation artists Academic staff of the École des Beaux-Arts {{Switzerland-artist-stub