Chris Bünter’s artistic practice examines the “leftovers” and ephemera of everyday life. Whether he blends two items of different sources into one or fuses a found material with a contradictory topic, he’s looking for uncommon appearances that picquet one’s attention. In a parallel course, an archive grows as part of this practice. Embedded within are correspondences, initial devisings, components of the work itself, and printed materials on various topics.
Bünter’s manuscript Buch der Angst epitomizes this practice, in which he explores the idea of lists, prompted by his discovery of out-of-use library category cards from the former Study Library on the History of the Labor Movement. Through the formulation of a new list, where Bünter combines the found category keywords with the search results for “fear” in the Swiss library network catalog, he presents new correlations between words, concepts, and historical fragments.
This practice of bringing together different materials and sources often leads Bünter into collaborations with other artists. His ongoing collaboration with Swiss artist Tashi Brauen takes works from Brauen’s Du series – made from paint on magazine pages – and initiates a process of exchange that alters the work with each pass to and fro between the two artists, giving rise to new compositions, juxtapositions, and chance elements.
Bünter lives and works in Zurich. He completed his studies in Art and Art History in Basel and at the Art Academy Warsaw. Bünter’s visual art practice comprises drawing, text art, collage, applied art, sculpture, installation, prints, and multiples. He also regularly contributes essays to publications on contemporary art.