Matthias Aeberli
Born in 1952.
This conception provides an anchor for a practice that unfolds both in exhibitions and through occasional interventions.
He began his career in 1972 at the Schule für Gestaltung in Basel, where he took courses in painting and sculpture, before continuing his studies at the Cooper Union School of Arts in New York from 1976. Between 1992 and 1999, he undertook several extended stays in Italy. During this period, from 1996 to 1999, he designed a line of design ceramics with Rahel Knöll under the Standbein Inc.
label. His career is also marked by three Basel art grants, a studio grant for the Istituto svizzero di Roma awarded by Pro Helvetia, and a grant from the City of Basel for the Cité internationale des Arts. In 2000, he received an UBS art prize together with Rahel Knöll.
In 1982, Aeberli took part in an exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel, organised by J. C. Ammann and accompanied by a catalogue.
His chronology subsequently lists, in 1996, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mulhouse, in a presentation described as an «édition», followed in 1999 by a presentation of drawings at Kunsthalle Basel and an exhibition at Galerie Stefan Rasche in Münster. In 2013, he created «die Arche bauen», a series of occasional interventions in Basel, Zurich and Rome. His 2018 exhibitions included «grenzenlos» at Kulturort Weiertal in Winterthur and «play.song.lines.» at Projektraum M54 in Basel.
From September 2020 to January 2021, Das Esszimmer in Bonn devoted a solo exhibition to him entitled «If paintings were live pets, would you buy them more readily? oder Bilderlügen haben lange Beine». Alongside his artistic practice, he also works as a curator: he was co-curator of Regionale11 at M54 in 2010, and curator of the project «ouvert et solidaire» in 2016.