Marco Frauchiger

Marco Frauchiger *1976 

With a background in photojournalism, the driving force behind Marco Frauchiger's artistic practice is the question of “truth”. Still we tend to believe what we see. In his many-layered lens based oevre he examines the possibilities and limits of the photographic medium.
His recent body of work has developed a more conceptual approach and plays with the blurring boundaries between fiction and the real. By entering into people’s everyday lives, the artist becomes a witness and an emphatic eye, occasionally revealing the absurdities and contradictions of today's human existence.

EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2023 BelleVue, Ort für Fotografie, Basel, "how to dismantle a bomb"
2023 Ausstellungsraum Klingental Basel
2022 Prix Photoforum 2022, Photoforum Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, "how to dismantle a bomb" (Bringing light into Dark)
2022 Kunstraum Dreiviertel, Bern, "how to dismantle a bomb"
2021 Cantonale Berne Jura 2021/22, Kunsthaus Langenthal,  "how to dismantle a bomb"
2021 Noorderlicht International Photography Festival, Groningen, Niederlande, "how to dismantle a bomb"
2021 Prozess Kulturraum, Bern, "It reminds me of a place I’ve never been to"
2021 ARFF International Film Festival, screening "how to dismantle a bomb"
2020 Whiteout, Kunstmuseum Thun, Cantonale Berne Jura 2020, "how to dismantle a bomb"
2020 Common Ground, Kunsthaus Pasquart Biel, Diploma exhibition MA CAP, "how to dismantle a bomb"
2019 hier einschlagen/ brisez la vitre/ smash glas here, annual exhibition MA CAP HKB Bern, „Se mettre a nu“
2019 Stundenbuch V.I.B, Lehrerzimmer Bern, Lecture Performance, „Se mettre a nu“
2019 Short Story Dispenser, installation and Text, Zurich HB Main Station, „Der Mann der reist“
2019 Festival of Cultures, Heiliggeistkirche Bern, „Churches“
2018 Tête-à-tête, BFF Bern, „Ich und das Andere“
2018 Strategies Against the Map, A Ilha Gallery, Lisbon
2017 VFG_Sicht, Photobastei Zurich, „Where the french people are“
2016 Nuit des Images, Musée d'Elysée Lausanne, „Bär“
2015 Fotolabor Kreta, Pop-Up Photo Studio, Vienna Design Week, Vienna, Austria
2015 Rencontres Arles, Papeteries Étienne, Arles, France, „Bär“
2015 AnzenbergerMasterclass, Alte Brotfabrik, Vienna, Austria, „Bär“
2015 Camera Obscura, Gallerie Schwarzwaldallee, Basel
2015 Haus der elektronischen Künste, Museumsnacht, Basel, „Portraits“
2014 Camera Obscura in the Photobastei, Zurich, „Jura“
2014 Group exhibition Photobastei, Zurich, „Mars“
2013 Cantonale Berne Jura 2013, Stadtgalerie Bern
2013 Berne Photo Prize 2013, Kornhausforum Bern, „Whatever we have“
2013 Arte Laguna, Finalist Artist, Arsenale Venice, Italy, „Mars“
2012 Big Data, Swiss Re Rüschlikon
2011 Jungkunst, City Halle Winterthur, „Erinnerungen sammeln“

EDUCATION 
2018—2020 Master Contemporary Art Practice, University of Arts, Bern
2014—2015 Masterclass Anzenberger, Vienna
2004—2005 GaF, Gruppe Autodidaktischer Fotograf*innen, Bern

PRIZES / GRANTS / NOMINATIONS
2022 Prix Photoforum Winner 2022 with "how to dismantle a bomb" (Bringing light into Dark)
2022 ‹Continuer› Research Grant of the Canton of Bern for "how to dismantle a bomb"
2022 Travel research grant of the City of Bern for how "to dismantle a bomb"
2021 Support grant, Kunstkommission City of Bern
2021 Project contribution of the Canton Arts Commission Bern
2021 Support grant Burgergemeinde Bern
2020 Support grant Bürgi-Willert Stiftung
2019 Selected by the Tête-à-tête competition, Canton of Bern, Kulturförderung des Kt. Bern
2019 Education Grant, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation
2018 Real 21, Media Fund Scholarship
2017 Travel grants from the canton of Bern (fine arts)
2017 Selected by the Tête-à-tête competition, Canton of Bern, Kulturförderung des Kt. Bern
2016 ViennaPhotoBookAward, Austria (nomination)
2015 Landskrona Photo & Breadfield Dummy Award, Sweden (2nd place)
2014 Greenpeace Photo Award (nomination)
2013 SDC and MAZ scholarship for Laos
2013 Berne Photo Prize 2013 (nomination)

CURRICULUM VITAE
Marco Frauchiger (1976), is a photographer and artist located in Bern, Switzerland. He has been living and working in Bern for approx. 20 years. He was born in Langnau im Emmental and grew up in Grosshöchstetten. There he attended school and later completed apprenticeships as a plumber, sanitary plumber and sanitary draftsman. Since 2009 he has been working as a freelance photographer, realizing his own projects in the art and documentary field. 
He started to learn photography as an autodidact. In 2004-2005, in a GaF (group of autodidactic photographers) he was intensively in exchange with professional colleagues in and developed his photography further. A scholarship enabled him to spend three months in Laos in 2013, where he worked as a photographer on his own series and with various NGOs. In 2014, he was allowed to attend a “Masterclass” course in Vienna. This one-year training was a mentoring program, which allowed him to experience the interaction with lecturers and students. Starting in 2014, he specifically attended further education workshops in the field of photography in order to deepen his knowledge and to further develop his photography. From autumn 2018 onwards, he completed the Master’s program CAP (Contemporary Art Practice) at the Bern University of the Arts. He completed this Master’s program in June of this year with the highest grade.