How much for the gold, 2021
Picture a souvenir shop filled to the brim with Swiss paraphernalia: miniature cows and bells, chocolate stamped with the red and white flag, postcards of the countryside. On the other side of the street sits a high-end boutique selling Swiss watches, the types actually made in Switzerland. The stuff of souvenir boutiques plays into a pastoral imaginary devoid of violence, while the complex mechanics of watches nurture the idea of a self-made nation ethically grounded in its own hard work. Designer and artist Camille Farrah Buhler’s window display draws on these national motifs and the narratives they consolidate, and builds on the work she has developed over the past four years. Through it, she pushes against the suffocating homogeneity of the contexts she finds herself in. Mining fashion and pop culture for new images and motifs, she replaces the narrow symbols of the nation with glittering surfaces.
Aude Fellay
Full text / camillebuhler.com / @cbuhler_3000
Camille Farrah Buhler was born in Lebanon in 1985 and raised in Geneva. Having graduated from HEAD with a Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design in 2013, followed by a Work.Master MA in Contemporary Artistic Practices, she now works at the intersection of art and design. Clothing and textiles play a central role within her artistic practice. She is also involved in various initiatives (e.g., Guerrilla Fashion) to promote different discourses and practices in fashion by offering a critical perspective on the industry. In addition, she is also part of the TAREX collective, which designed the scenography for the 2021 BIG. She is currently working on editorial content for the first issue of the SOEWER, a transdisciplinary magazine to be published in 2022.
©Isabelle Meister (portrait)
©Thomas Maisonnasse
Showcases provided by the Département des finances et du logement
Camille Farrah Buhler
la transformiste des profondeurs