San Keller (CH)

San Keller, born in Bern in 1971, studied at Zürich University of the Arts. At the beginning of his artistic activity, he made a name for himself with his participative-ephemeral actions, that were based firmly on an understanding of art as service and that he announced with his trademark “Action Star”.
His critical, conceptual, playful work, that takes a very special approach to the relationship between art and life, covers a very wide range: from his first performances in the mid-1990s, e.g. on Swiss television, where he slept on the floor during the news programme, to his international performances, e.g. at the Sharjah Biennial in 2005, when he asked Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammed El-Qasimi whether he should keep the San Star, the trademark of his works, or at Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt in 2008, where he took part in the exhibition “Mathilda is Calling”, with him and Su Young Park pushing each other around in a handcart.
The collector couple Marianne and Fritz Keller, the artist’s parents, opened the Museum San Keller at the family’s flat in 2008 (www.museumsankeller.ch). Keller's most recent actions and exhibitions include “This Way Keller” at Galerie Brigitte Weiss, Zürich, “Clever and Smart” at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (both in 2007), “Concept and Commerce” at the Maes & Matthys Gallery, Antwerp (2008), and “Show Show” at the Centre Pasquart, Biel (2009). Since December 2009, Keller has been making public the planning phase and preparatory talks for a planned exhibition at Kunsthalle Fridericianum as part of a “Pre-, Pre-, Pre-, Pre-, Preview”. Keller received the Manor Art Prize of Bern Canton in 2009. He lives and works in Zürich.


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