Peter Aerschmann
Born in 1969.
Peter Aerschmann was born in Fribourg, Switzerland, in 1969, and lives and works in Bern. Since 1999, he has pursued an artistic practice principally focused on video, photography, and interactive or computer-based installations.
His education combines studies in the arts and computer science: University of Art and Design Basel (1991–1992), computer science studies at the University of Basel (1992–1994), followed by Bern University of the Arts / Hochschule der Künste Bern (1994–1999).
Also active in cultural organisation, he is the initiator and co-founder of the PROGR Bern foundation and of Residency.ch. His activities include numerous workshops and residencies mentioned in the dossier: Berlin (2000), New York (2005), South Africa (2011), Moscow (2016), Genoa (2017), Budapest (2019), and Shanghai (2024).
Among his solo exhibitions are Transit at Kunsthaus Grenchen (February 2015, cur. Eva Inversini), Souvenirs at Kunstmuseum Appenzell (August 2018, cur. Roland Scotti), and a presentation at Mannheimer Kunstverein (July 2019).
More recent solo projects listed in the sources include I MISS YOU at the Museum für Kunst und Geschichte MAHF in Fribourg (April 2020), INVISIBLE at Galerie C in Paris (February 2022), and Casita in Bern (August 2023). He has also taken part in group exhibitions and curatorial projects, including GEOMETRY OF HISTORY at Fabrika CCI in Moscow (September 2016, cur. Anna Fatyanova) and, with Stefanie Kägi, On.OFF in Winterthur (January 2016).
The curators cited in the documentation include Eva Inversini (Transit, 2015), Roland Scotti (Souvenirs, 2018), and Anna Fatyanova (GEOMETRY OF HISTORY, 2016).
Several collections and institutions have been indicated as having acquired the artist’s works, notably the François Pinault Foundation (Venice), the Museum für Kunst und Geschichte MAHF (Fribourg), the Martin Z. Margulies Collection (Miami), the Credit Suisse Collection Zürich, the Roche Art Collection, the Sammlung Migros Aare, the Julius Bär Collection, Kunstmuseum Thun, the Carola & Günther Ketterer-Ertle Collection, Kunstmuseum Bern, and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris). His career was recognised with the Swiss Art Award in 2002 and the Aeschlimann-Corti Award in 2006.
The combination of artistic and computer science training mentioned in the sources is reflected in his practice: the documentation regularly presents him as an artist working at the intersections of image, sound, and interactive systems based on computer technologies.