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# Swiss Institute (New York)

##

Last modified: 2026-04-25 by martin karner
Keywords: switzerland | swiss institute | art |
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image by Ivan Sache

- Artists' commissioned flags
  - 2007 (23 May – 24 November): Olaf Breuning
  - 2008 (1 March – 20 December): Olivier Mosset
  - 2009 (1 May – ?): Peter Regli
  - 2010 (6 May – ?): Mai-Thu Perret

See also:

- Flags by Swiss Artists
- Flag installations by Julien Celdran (France)
- Flag paintings by Alain Balzac (France)
- European Union: Use of the flag in art
- International Exhibition of Modern Art (U.S.)
- Flags as Art
- Switzerland

## Artists' commissioned flags

Starting in 2007, the Swiss Institute commissioned every year a Swiss artist to redesign the Swiss flag, to be hung instead of the institute's flag for most of the year.
Quoting Karin Kamp, 18 March 2009:
"When he became head of the gallery in 2006, Jetzer took down the Swiss flag that hung outside and decided to start all over again. It's like famous musicians or bands asking other famous musicians or bands to remix their albums. It's still their track but it's different, it's refreshed â€“ and that's the same goal with this flag,"
Jetzer told swissinfo: He wants the flags to represent postmodern Switzerland, which he said is "much more complex than just Heidiland. I think the nice symbolic value of it is that we try to question Switzerland and communicate it to the outside world," he said.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/Swiss_flag_remixed_in_Big_Apple.html?cid=1000908 [retrieved]
Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012

## 2007 (23 May – 24 November): Olaf Breuning

image by Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012
Olaf Breuning (b. 1970 in Schaffausen; first public exhibition in 1994) is a multi-disciplinary artist (sculpture, drawing, photography, video, installation), working and living in New York.
http://olafbreuning.tumblr.com (Homepage, retrieved)
"New York local, Swiss artist Olaf Breuning, known for his interest in odd cultural cohesions, has designed a new version of the Swiss flag."
http://www.swissinstitute.net/exhibitions/exhibition.php?Exhibition=36 [not archived] (Presentation, Swiss Institute website)
The artist added stylized feet, hands, ears, eyes and a mouth with two teeth to the Swiss cross.
Photos:
http://www.swissinstitute.net/_db/images/1179772960-flag_web.jpg [retrieved]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nubbytwiglet/1435784360/in/photostream

Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012

## 2008 (1 March – 20 December): Olivier Mosset

image by Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012

Olivier Mosset (b. 1944 in Bern) is a "non-painter" working and living in Tucson, Arizona. Once the assistant of Jean Tinguely and Daniel Spoerri, Mosset was a member of the short-lived BMTP group (1966–1967), together with Daniel Buren, Michel Parmentier and Niele Toroni; BMPT refused "emollient art" and promoted "useless painting".
"The Swiss Institute commissioned Olivier Mosset, a 2008 Whitney Biennial artist, to re-design the Swiss flag. Mosset merges both the red of Switzerland with that of Communism, so that the Red's flag may hang on Broadway. On its backside, in a moment of detournement, Mosset inverts the SI logo to be IS, a tongue in cheek reference to Guy Debord and the International Situationists."
http://www.swissinstitute.net/exhibitions/exhibition.php?Exhibition=53 [retrieved] (Presentation, Swiss Institute website)
http://www.swissinstitute.net/events/past.php?Event=50 [not archived] (Inauguration, Swiss Institute website)
The flag (obverse) is red with a small Swiss cross in the lower fly.
Photos:
http://www.swissinstitute.net/_db/images/1207948973-mosset_flag.jpg [retrieved]
http://www.swissinstitute.net/_db/images/1204647471-olivier_mosset.jpg [retrieved]

Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012

## 2009 (1 May – ?): Peter Regli

image by Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012

"After the successful appropriations of Olaf Breuning and Olivier Mosset, the Swiss Institute commissioned Peter Regli to re-design its Swiss flag. Regli's work often explores the interactions between institutions and public situations. For the SI, he remixes the red and white of the Swiss flag into a two faceted design; in effect, the Swiss cross is shattered into pieces like a puzzle. While waving in the wind, this face may either grin or frown at you."
http://www.swissinstitute.net/exhibitions/exhibition.php?Exhibition=64 [retrieved without photo] (Presentation, Swiss Institute website)
The flag appears as item No. 274 in the Reality Hacking project ran by Peter Regli. The size of the flag is given as 70" x 94" – 178 cm x 239 cm. The two sides of the flag are countercoloured.
http://www.realityhacking.com/project.php?id=274 (Reality Hacking website)
Photos
http://www.swissinfo.ch/media/cms/images/swissinfo/2009/03/sriimg20090310_10433739_2.jpg [not archived]
http://www.realityhacking.com/images/274_01.jpg
http://www.realityhacking.com/images/274_02.jpg
http://www.realityhacking.com/images/274_03.jpg
http://www.realityhacking.com/images/274_04.jpg
http://www.artdaily.com/imagenes/2009/01/10/flag2.jpg

Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012

## 2010 (6 May – ?): Mai-Thu Perret

image by Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012

Mai-Thu Perret (b. 1976 in Geneva from a Swiss father and a Vietnamese mother; first public exhibition in 2000) is a multi-disciplinary artist (sculpture, painting, video, installation, dance) living and working in Geneva. Getting her inspiration from socialist ideology and radical feminist politics, she is one of the chairs of the "The Crystal Frontier", a project "documenting" the fictitious life of a women's utopian community established in the desert of New Mexico.
http://www.hebdo.ch/artiste_ventriloque_77760_.html [retrieved] ("L'Hebdo", 22 October 2010)
https://www.davidkordanskygallery.com/artist/mai-thu-perret (David Kordansky Gallery)
http://www.vogue.it/en/uomo-vogue/people/2011/05/mai-thu-perret [retrieved] ("Vogue", 27 May 2011)
"Two dots divided by a bar. Mai-Thu Perret's symbol is of disarming nonchalance. It reads like a new order, fresher than any corporate identity. The coat of arms of Swiss Institute represents artistic freedom. It is not a substitute or icon for power (for a country, a product or even a political party), it stands for itself. Perret developed the composition for one of her paintings and made it into a flag."
http://www.swissinstitute.net/exhibitions/exhibition.php?Exhibition=101 [retrieved] – Presentation, Swiss Institute website
Photos
http://www.swissinstitute.net/_db/img_title/1274818803-flag_2.jpg [retrieved]
http://www.swissinstitute.net/_db/images/1285701557-mai_thu_perret_fl.jpg [retrieved]

Ivan Sache, 17 September 2012