Draft:Sandra Knecht
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Last edited by Paradoctor (talk | contribs) 12 days ago. (Update) |
Sandra Knecht (born 1968) is a Swiss conceptual and performance artist whose practice includes installation, photography, film, sculpture, performance, and cooking.[1][2] Her work focuses on identity, belonging, and the concept of Heimat, a German term referring to home or homeland.[1][3] In 2022, she received the Swiss Art Award, and in 2026 her work was included in the 61st Venice Biennale.[4][5]
Early life and education
[edit]Knecht grew up in the Zurich Oberland region of Switzerland.[3] Before working primarily as an artist, she spent 25 years working as a social pedagogue.[1][3] She studied at the Zurich University of the Arts from 2011 to 2014, completing a Master of Fine Arts.[1][6]
Knecht's experiences working in social pedagogy contributed to her interest in questions of home, displacement, and belonging.[3][7] Her artistic practice subsequently developed across multiple media, including cooking, photography, video, sculpture, and installation.[6]
Career
[edit]In 2015, Knecht established Chnächt, a project housed in a reconstructed historic barn in Basel's harbor district.[3][8]The space became the setting for regular dinners and performances in which food and communal eating formed part of Knecht's artistic practice.[3][8] She continued the project until 2019.[6]
Knecht's work increasingly centered on Heimat and the ways in which ideas of home are shaped by geography, identity, memory, social relationships, and food.[1] In 2022, she received the Swiss Art Award for My Land Is Your Land, a project examining home through ideas of inclusion and solidarity.[3][4]
In 2025, the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger presented Home Is a Foreign Place, an exhibition bringing together Knecht's long-term research into home, identity, and the relationship between humans and the natural world.[2] That year, she also presented The Dinner Party at the Serpentine in London, creating a multi-course meal dedicated to artists and cultural figures who had influenced her.[9]
In 2026, Knecht participated in In Minor Keys, the central exhibition of the 61st Venice Biennale.[5] Her installation Home Is a Foreign Place incorporated sculpture, found objects, photography, a restored apiary, and a bronze cast of a pear tree.[5]
Awards and exhibitions
[edit]Knecht received the Swiss Art Award in 2022.[4] Her work has been presented at institutions and exhibitions including Kunsthaus Baselland, the Swiss Art Awards, the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger, the Serpentine, and the Venice Biennale.[2][4][5][9]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Sandra Knecht. Home Is a Foreign Place". Hatje Cantz Verlag. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 3 "HOME IS A FOREIGN PLACE". Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Colonial. Switzerland's Global Entanglements". National Museum Zurich. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 3 4 "Swiss Art Awards 2022 for Fine Arts Alumni". Zurich University of the Arts. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 3 4 "Sandra Knecht". La Biennale di Venezia. 2026-04-08. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 3 "Cahiers d'Artistes". e-flux. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ "These candid photos explore humanity's relationship to nature". Dazed. 2025-02-13. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 "Performancekunst - Kochend auf der Suche nach Heimat und Identität". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (in German). 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 "The Dinner Party: Sandra Knecht Performance". Serpentine Galleries. 2025. Retrieved 2026-09-04.