In his captivating essays, the renowned Duchamp expert Stefan Banz explains, among other things, why it was not Walter Hopps who mounted Duchamp's first solo exhibition in a public institution but Max Bill, or what exactly Joseph Beuys had misunderstood about Duchamp when he performed The Silence of Marcel Duchamp is Overrated, or how Fischli & Weiss appropriated Duchamp's unrealized idea for a work titled Équilibre, or that Ai Weiwei cites Duchamp in almost all his major works, and the tremendous influence that Jules Verne had on the artistic approach of this great avant-gardist.
Stefan Banz (born in Sursee, lives and works in Switzerland) is an artist and author. In 1989 he cofounded the Kunsthalle Luzern and served as its artistic director until 1993; since then he has been working as a freelance artist, participating in solo and group exhibitions in international galleries and museums. From July 1994 to December 1997 he was the artistic consultant and curator of Galerie Hauser & Wirth. In 2000 he received the Manor Art Prize, and the Recognition Award from the City of Lucerne. From 2004 to 2014 he collaborated artistically with
Caroline Bachmann. In 2005 he was the curator for the Swiss Pavilion at the 51st Biennale in Venice. In 2009 he cofounded the association
, and in 2010 he co-organized the event “Marcel Duchamp and the Forestay Waterfall” in Cully, Switzerland, both with Caroline Bachmann. Since then he has been the artistic director of the KMD.
