Brief History

Present on the Geneva art scene since 1990, the Galerie Guy Bärtschi has throughout the years been able to evolve towards a unique and well defined exhibition program, confirming its particular focus on the art from the 80's until today.

In 2003, the gallery moved to a brand new space in the QuArtier des Bains, at the heart of the city's art district, thus becoming one of the French speaking part of Switzerland's most important addresses for contemporary art. The Galerie Guy Bärtschi stands out for the international visibility of its artists, the number and quality of the exhibits it presents and for its commitment in the specific production of works of art asked by its artists regularly. Its reputation has also grown thanks to its presence, as one of the Swiss galleries, in international art fairs.

Today, its three exhibition spaces - the ground floor, the basement and the recently inaugurated project room - amounting to 500 square meters, allow the gallery to simultaneously present different projects often produced especially for the gallery, thus representing both established artists, as well as young artists oriented towards new technologies and providing them with a promotional platform.

Artists, such as Marina Abramovic, Per Barclay, Wim Delvoye, Jan Fabre, Nan Goldin, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, Cornelia Parker, Giuseppe Penone, and Not Vital have now shown their work here.

On the occasion of most individual shows, the gallery publishes a catalogue staging the artists' recent work.

2007 marked an important year for the gallery's artists, with Marina Abramovic who presented a film at the Guggenheim New-York based on the performances she had done in the same museum a year before, and with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Giuseppe Penone representing respectively Mexico and Italy at the 52nd Venice Biennale 2007, after having both entered the collection of the MoMA through the gallery in 2006. The GAMeC (Bergamo) honours Jan Fabre with a solo show and a collateral event to the 52nd Venice Biennale. Besides, three out of five artists in the group show Automatic Updates shown in 2006 at the MoMA are represented by Galerie Guy Bärtschi: Cory Arcangel, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.

The Galerie Guy Bärtschi participated in Art Basel Unlimited 07, with a project by the artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in collaboration with Gallery OMR (Mexico) and Bitforms (New York) for production and realisation.

In 2008, we are happy to present a major work by Fabrice Gygi in collaboration with Galerie Chantal Crousel at Art Basel Unlimited 08.

Other highlights of this years are the comprehensive exhibition of Marina Abramovic at Galerie Guy Bärtschi, where she presents for the first time her new project realized in Laos, in the context of "The Quiet in the Land", which has been produced by the gallery, or Wim Delvoye's solo-exhibition where the Viae Crucis-series is shown to the public for the first time, as well as the nomination of Fabrice Gygi to represent Switzerland at Venice Biennale 2009, or Jan Fabre's monumental exhibition in relation to the Flemish Painting at the Louvre in Paris.