The artist Manon (born in Berne in 1946) produces installations, performances and photography. She first came to prominence in the 1970s with the installation 'The Salmon coloured boudoir' (1974). Her environments and photographic scenes are distillations of social change in the 1970s, sexual liberation, and the search for new roles. In photographic series such as 'Woman with shaved head' and 'Ball of lonelinesses' she addresses among other things the social construction of identity.
She was awarded several prizes, the last one in 2008 was the Prix Meret Oppenheim.
Further information on her biography can be found in the encyclopedia of SIKART from the Swiss Institute for Art Research.
1972 Manon opened her boutique, Manon’s, in the old part of Zurich where she sold her own creations: jackets made from glitter fabric with appliqués. She posed in self designed interiors as a model for fashion magazines.
1973/74 Manon experimented for the first time in photography, creating Polaroids, and 'Fetischbilder' (Fetish Pictures).
Manon submerged in Zurich’s subculture during this time and met the artists Sigmar Polke, Jürgen Klauke, Luciano Castelli, Markus Rätz, Walter Pfeiffer, and Esther Altdorfer, filmmaker Daniel Schmid, and musician Stefan Wittwer. She was always extravagantly done up for her nightly appearances in the club Platte 27.
1974 Manon’s meticulously furnished bedroom in a loft on Augustinergasse in Zurich presents a little universe filled with fetish objects, feathers, and glittery materials, and would become the starting point for her first installation 'Das lachsfarbene Boudoir' (The salmon coloured boudoir) at the art gallery Li Tobler. It was reconstructed in 2006 and thereafter shown at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, at the Helmhaus in 2008 and the Swiss Institute New York City in 2009.
1975 'Das Ende der Lola Montez' (The End of Lola Montez) (Performance for Markus Raetz at Kunstmuseum Lucerne)
'Manonomanie' (Artist's book)
1975/76 'Das Leben im Schaukasten' (Life in a Showcase at Pablo Stähli Gallery)
1976 'Manon Presents Man' (Performance at Gallery Jamileh Weber Zurich))
1977 'The Artist Is Present' (Performance at the Rathaus Lucerne)
'Walk on the Wild Side' (Performance at the Kunsthaus Zürich)
'Le regret, le désir' (Performance for Walter Pfeiffer)
'On Manon ’74-77' (Artist's book)
1977/78 'La dame au crane rasé' (The Lady with the Shaved Head) (Photoseries)
1978 'Elektrokardiogramm 304/303' (Photoseries)
1979 'Die graue Wand oder 36 schlaflose Nächte' (The gray wall or 36 sleepless nights) (Photoseries)
'Sentimental Journey' (Performance at Gallerie De Appel Amsterdam)
'Traps' (Performance at John Armleders Gallerie Ecart, Geneva)
1980 'Ball der Einsamkeiten' (Ball of lonelinesses) (Photoseries)
1982 'Das Doppelzimmer' (The double-room) (Photoseries)
1983/84 'Wendekreise' (Turning circles) (Photoseries)
1990 'Damenzimmer' (The room of women) (Installation at Kusthaus St. Gall)
'Künstler Eingang' (Artist’s entrance) (Photoseries)
1993 'Die Philosophie im Boudoir' (Philosophy in the boudoir) (Installation)
1994 'Wege zum Ruhm' (Paths to glory) (Artist's book)
1996'La stanza delle donne' (The room of women) (Installation)
1997 'Seduzione e dolore' (Seduction and pain) (Installation at Centro d'arte contemporaneo Bellinzona)
'Blut im Schuh' (Blood in the shoe) (Installation at Müllerhaus Lenzburg)
1999 'Forever Young' (Photoseries)
2003 'Einst war sie Miss Rimini' (She was once Miss Rimini) (Photoseries)
2006 'Manon as Edgar' (Photowork)
Since 2004 photo cycle 'Diaries' (Photowork)
2008 'Borderline' (Photoseries)
Work biography by Brigitte Ulmer Link
Awards and Grants
1975 Kiefer-Hablitzel-Scholarship
1978 Scholarship des Kantons Zürich
1979 Scholarship des Kantons Zürich
1980 Scholarship of the Swiss Government
1980 Scholarship of the Canton of Zürich
1980 Workcontribution Pro Helvetia
1980 Atelier from the town of Zürich in Cité internationale Paris
1981 Support contribution STEO-Foundation
1981 The publishers Benteli receive the first prize in the competition for the most beautiful Swiss books (for Manon Identität Selbstdarstellung Image published by Benteli) .
1982 Apartment of the town of Zürich in New York.
1982 Atelier of the Canton of Zürich in Paris.
1985 Atelier of the Canton of Zürich in Paris.
1994 Apartment of the federal government in the Istituto Svizzero, Rome.
1995/96 Atelier of the town of Zürich in Genova
1996/97 Workcontribution for Artists book "Wege zum Ruhm" from STEO-Stiftung, Cassinelli-Vogel Stiftung, Migros Genossenschafts Bund, Pro Helvetia.
2000 visarte visual arts association atelier in Paris.
2006 UBS Culture-Foundation "Honorary gift for the pioneer work"
2008 Fontana Gränacher Prize
2008 Workcontribution Esther Matossi Foundation
2008 Prix Meret Oppenheim
On Manon '74-77 (Küng Kong Sisters Zurich 1977, Reprint Neue Kunst und Medienverlag, Zurich, 2001)
Manon - Identität Selbstdarstellung Image (Benteli-Verlag, Berne, 1981)
Künstler Eingang (Benteli-Verlag, Berne, 1990)
Einst war sie Miss Rimini / She once was Miss Rimini (Scheidegger&Spiess, Zurich, 2004)
Manon - eine Person / Manon - A Person (Scheidegger&Spiess, Zurich, 2008)
With exclusively Manon in it:
The Artist is present (1977)
Ball der Einsamkeiten (1980)
Forever Young (Bianca Pilat contemporary art, Chicago-Milano, 1999)
