François Bucher (CO/DE)
Forever Live: The Case of K. Gun, 2006
17:51
“This work is based on the re-enactment of Franz Kafka’s allegory ‘Before the Law’, interpreted live over a telephone line by Katharine Gun. Gun was a translator (specializing in Chinese to English translations), working with the British secret service, who chose to leak information compromising the U.S. and U.K. governments in their push for a U.N. resolution for the invasion of Iraq. Gun disclosed their plans to illegally wiretap the delegations of the Security Council holding the balance of power at the U.N. She was not prosecuted when it became clear to the government of the U.K. that her court case would become a trial on the war’s legality. At the time of Bucher’s recording, Kafka’s text was completely new to Gun, as she translated the allegory live from Chinese to English.
In 2005 Bucher met Katharine Gun in her hometown in Cheltenham, England. They agreed to collaborate on a project that entailed remobilizing her image within the parameters of a different discourse; one that would steal her image from the trivializations of media terminology, such as “whistle blower” and reconnect her action to a more significant dimension. This is the first part of that project.”
[François Bucher]
Biography
Born in Cali, Colombia in 1972. He lives and works in Berlin and Bogotá.
Education
2000, Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York.
1999, M.F.A. in Film, The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
1997, B.F.A. minor in Literature, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá.
Selected solo shows
2007
Alcuadrado Arte Actual, Bogotá.
Saint Paul, (collaboration with Pedro Paixao) Porta 33, Madeira.
2005
Año Cero, Valenzuela y Klenner Arte Contemporáneo, Bogotá.
Gandy Gallery, Bratislava.
Fusebox Gallery, Washington.
2003
Valenzuela y Klenner Arte Contemporáneo, Bogotá.
2002
Six Feet Under, “New York 2002” Whitebox Gallery, New York.
White Balance (to think is to forget differences), Location One, New York.
2001
Twin Murders, and Other Exercises, Alliance Française, Bogotá.
Recorders (collaboration with Katya Sander), Location One, New York.
Selected Group Exhibitions and Screenings
2007
Tessalonnika Biennial (curated by Jan-Erik Lundstrum).
Displace, Glynn Vivian (curated by Maria Clara Bernal), Swansea.
The Intricate Journey Part1 1-3, NGBK, Berlin
Transmission (curated by Jean Cristophe Royoux), MAC, Miami.
Le Plateau (collaboration with René Gabri and Ayreen Anastas), Paris.
Haus der Kuturen Der Welt (collaboration with René Gabri and Ayreen Anastas), Berlin.
In the Poem… (curated by Tanya Leighton), Overgarten, Copenhagen, Midway Minneapolis.
Aftershock, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia.
2006
Cityscape (curated by Victor Zamudio), Galería Alcuadrado, ARCO, Madrid.
In the Poem… (curated by Tanya Leighton), Artists Space, New York.
Last Lives (curated by Tessa Giblin), SMART, Amsterdam.
Monitoring, Kassel Documentary Film Festival, Kassel.
Glasskultur (curated by Martí Perán), Koldo Mitxelna, San Sebastian, Centro Cultural La Panera, Barcelona.
Salón Nacional de Artistas, Bogotá.
nEUclear Reactions (curated by Paco Barragán), CAB, Burgos.
In Other Words (curated by Mariangela Mendez), Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.
Salón Regional (curated by Natalia Gutierrez), Bogotá.
Dark Places (curated by Joshua Deckter), Santa Monica Art Museum.
Re-shuffle, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.
When Artists Say We, (curated by Ayreen Anastas) Artists Space, New York.
A Complete Guide to Re-Write your Own History, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin.
2005
Galería Alcuadrado, Art Basel, Miami Beach.
September 11, 1973 Orchard 47, New York.
Rotterdam Film Festival, Rotterdam.
Split Festival of New Film, Split.
Festival Internacional de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte.
Amakula Kampala International Film Festival
Art in General, New York.
Radio Arte Mobile, Rome.
Television (an address), Transmediale, Berlin.
International Contemporary Art Biennial (curated by Paco Barragán). Prague.
In The Poem About Love You Don’t Write The Word Love (curated by Tanya Leighton), CCA, Glasgow.Centre For Contemporary Art, Glasgow.
Film Museum, Brussels.
2004
Dandole Vuelta al Poder (curated by Victoria Noorthoorn), Centro Cultural La Recoleta, Buenos Aires.
Salón Nacional de Artistas, Galería Santa Fe, Bogotá.
9 Mütter XX 04 (curated by Tanya Leighton), Mütter Museum, College of Physicians, Philadelphia.
Valdez V, Art in General, New York.
Urbes Interiores, (curated by Jose Roca), BLAA, Bogotá.
Finalists al Primer premio a la Videocreación en Iberoamerica, (first prize) Casa de America, MUSAC, Madrid.
Transmediale, Berlin.
Hit n’ Run, (curated by Loucky Keiser), Gigantic Art Space, New York.
Cine y Casi Cine (curated by Berta Sichel), Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid.
Document(all) (curated by Berta Sichel), Argos Foundation, Brussels.
Festival Internacional de Vídeo y Multimedia de Canarias, Islas Canarias.
LA Freewaves, Los Angeles.
2003
Slowness (curated by Mercedes Vicente), Dorsky Curatorial Project, New York, Govett-Brewster Art Center, New Zealand.
Errancias, Valenzuela y Klenner, Bogotá.
24/7: Vilnius, (curated by Raimundas Malasauskas), CAC, Vilnius.
Prague Biennial 1, (curated by Sofia Hernandez), Prague.
Raw (curated by Denise Carvalho), Smack Mellon, Brooklyn.
Valdez de Oro Centre d'édition Contemporaine, Geneva.
Go!, Liquidación Total, Madrid.
Next Five Minutes, Amsterdam.
Arsenal Theater, Berlin.
Videolisboa, Lisboa (prize of the Jury).
European Media Arts Festival, Osnabruck.
VideoEx, (first prize), Zurich.
Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago.
Reencontres Internationals Paris/Berlin.
Nova Cinema, (curated by Katia Rossini) Brussels.
Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley, (curated by Steve Seid), Berkley.
Festival de Video de Rio de Janeiro (curated by Karyn Riegl), Rio de Janeiro.
2002
Speaking Truths (curated by Moukhtar Kocache) Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis.
Empire/State: Engaging the Spaces of Globalization, The Whitney Museum ISP Curatorial Program, CUNY Graduate Center, New York.
S-files (curated by Victoria Noorthoorn and Deborah Cullen) Museo del Barrio Biennial, New York.
Hash Brown Potatoes (curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud), Smack Mellon, New York.
Unheard of (curated by Eduardo Difarnecio), Cuchifritos, New York.
Caribean Biennial, Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo.
KIOSK Modes of Multiplication, Revolver, touring exhibition.
New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center, New York.
Tate Britain, Turner Prize Video Program (curated by Ian White), London.
Reports from the Global Village, (curated by Karyn Riegl) Cinema Paradise Festival, Honolulu.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
Media Arts Festival in Friesland.
Kassel Documentary Film Festival (nominated for the Werkleitz Grant 2002).
Special Program, Indonesian International Film Festival, Jakarta.
Special Program, Impakt Festival, Utrecht.
Semantics of Fear (curated by Florian Wuest), Weimar.
Oberhausen Film Festival, Special Program (curated by Keith Sandborn),
Oberhausen.
Reports from the Global Village, (curated by Karyn Riegel), Ocularis, New York.
L.A. Freewaves, (curated by José Roca), Los Angeles, Boston,
America’s Society, New York.
2001
Artists in Residence, Location One, New York.
Ground Zero, Transitory Audio Archive, Nomads and Residents, New York.
Doméstica, (curated by Jose Roca) Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá.
Fragments of a Lover’s Video (curated by José A. Restrepo), Bogotá, Buenos Aires.
Valdez, Revista de Arte, La Panadería, Mexico City.
INPUT, International Public Television Conference, Official selection,
Halifax, Canada.
Twin Murders The Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York.
2000
Here and Elsewhere, Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, New York.
Christie’s, Colombian art auction, London.
En Vitrina, Valenzuela y Klenner, Arte Contemporáneo, Bogotá.
PR 00 Biennial (curated by Maria Inés Rodriguez), San Juan.
Anthropology (in collaboration with Katya Sander), Momentum, Moss, Norway.
Sidelong Glance (curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud) Im n Il Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.
1999
National Young Artists Salon, Galería Santa Fé, Bogotá.
The School of The Art Institute of Chicago Film Center.
Cadena 3, National T.V. broadcast, Bogotá.