Olaf Breuning
Olaf Breuning (born February 16, 1970) is a Swiss-born artist, born in Schaffhausen, who lives in New York City.
Olaf Breuning

HeathenHenry · Public domain
- Name
- Olaf Breuning
- Born
- 16 February 1970
- Birthplace
- Schaffhausen, Switzerland
- Field
- Artist, Sculpture, Drawing, Photography, Video
- Training
- Weiterbildungsklasse Fotographie, Höhere Schule für Gestaltung
- Nationality
- Switzerland
- Occupation
- artist · photographer
- Fields
- artist
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Olaf Breuning (born February 16, 1970) is a Swiss-born artist, born in Schaffhausen, who lives in New York City.
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Note VALÉORINE
Olaf Breuning (born 1970) is a Swiss artist and photographer. The artist was born in Schaffhausen. Olaf Breuning is active in artist.
Languages used include English. Works by the artist are held at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Hessel Museum of Art and National Gallery of Victoria, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q3350134 · wikipedia · Olaf Breuning
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is artist. Work by Olaf Breuning is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Hessel Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Olaf Breuning • Born — 16 February 1970 • Birthplace — Schaffhausen, Switzerland • Field — Artist, Sculpture, Drawing, Photography, Video • Training — Weiterbildungsklasse Fotographie, Höhere Schule für Gestaltung • Website — www.olafbreuning.com
Works
Works
• Home 1/Home 2 (2004/7) 30 minute video starring Brian Kerstetter. Home 1 is presented as a double-projection, where the main character can no longer distinguish the difference between reality and fiction. He wanders around a hotel room telling stories about himself and other people to the camera. As he tells the stories, they are simultaneously seen on the opposite screen. In Home 2 Brian Kerstetter plays an ignorant tourist staggering around the world from Switzerland to Africa and Japan to Papua New Guinea, crashing his western mentality upon the exotic places he goes. • Ugly Yelp (2000), Apes (2001), King (2001), Hello Darkness (2002) With these installations, Breuning creates theatrical atmospheres using sound, video and light. These installations have been shown in many museums and are owned by collections internationally. • Easter Bunnies (2004) A photograph created on Easter Island, transforming Moai into Easter bunnies by setting up rabbit ears on C-stands in the extreme foreground. • Sibylle (1998)-- Photograph of a female model lying on a table, whose body has been affected by cultural references to Matthew Barney, Cindy Sherman, Pablo Picasso, and others, resulting a creepily mutilated creature. • Smoke Bombs (2008) Exemplifies Breuning's photographic technique of leaving the mess of production within frame, allowing the viewer to see behind the scenes of the production.
Group exhibitions (selected)
Group exhibitions (selected)
In recent years he has exhibited his works at many group shows around the world, including The Somerset House, London; Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel; Tinguely Museum, Basel; Nelson–Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg; Musée Rath, Geneva and many other venues. Some of them are listed below: 2014 • Das Fremde ist nur in der Fremde fremd, Museum Rietberg, Zurich, CH 2013 • Ursula Palla und Olaf Breuning. Hin und Her, Binz 39, Zurich, CH • Métamatic Reloaded, Tinguely Museum, Basel, CH • La realtà non è un luogo comune. Fotografie e video della Collezione d'arte della Julius Baer, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano, CH 2012 • Holzwege. Sentieri erranti. Arte svizzera dalla collezione della Mobiliare, Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano, CH • Parallelwelt Zirkus, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, AU • Through the Looking Brain, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, CH • Incongru. Quand l'art fait rire, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, CH 2011 • Through the Looking Brain, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, DE 2010 • Press Art. Die Sammlung Annette und Peter Nobel, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, CH 2009 • Darkside II. Fotografische Macht und fotografierte Gewalt, Krankheit und Tod, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, CH • 200 Artworks. 25 Years Artists, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, JP (catalogue) 2008 • When fears become form, Centre d'art Neuchâtel (CAN), Neuchâtel, CH • Sammlung/Collection Migros Museum für Gegenwartkunst Zürich 1978-2008, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, CH • Whitney Biennial 2008, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US 2007 • 12e Biennale de l'Image en mouvement, Centre pour l'image contemporaine (CIC), Geneva, CH • What we bought, Camera Austria, Graz, AU • All about Laughter: humor in contemporary art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, JP • Six Feet Under. Autopsie unseres Umgangs mit Toten. Autopsy of Our Relation to the Dead, Kunstmuseum Bern, CH 2006 • Imagination becomes reality. Part IV. Borrowed images, Sammlung Goetz, München, DE • Cindy Sherman, Gianni Motti, Olaf Breuning, Galerie Nicola von Senger, Zurich, CH • Some tribes, Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, CH 2003 • Urban Diaries. Young Swiss Art, Alcalá 31, Madrid, ESP • M_ARS. Kunst und Krieg:de:Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, AU 2002 • Lorbeer-Extrakt. Manor-Kunstpreis Schaffhausen 1987-2001, Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, CH (catalogue) 2001 • M family. Die Bilder zum Migros Geschäftsbericht 2000, Migros Museum für Gegenwartkunst, Zurich, CH (catalogue) • Up in the sky. Himmel in der Kunst der 90er Jahre, Kunsthaus Grenchen, Grenchen, CH • Collaborations with Parkett: 1984 to Now, Museum of Modern Art, New York, US 2000 • Eidgenössische Preise für freie Kunst 2000, Kunsthalle Fri Art, Freiburg, CH • Let's be friends, Migros Museum für Gegenwartkunst, Zurich, CH • EX25 Hochschule und Museum Für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich die Letzten 25 Jahre Halle, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Zurich, CH • Reality Bytes. Der medial vermittelte Blick, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, DE 1999 • Eidgenössische Preise für freie Kunst 1999, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich, CH 1998 • Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer. Junge Schweizer Kunst, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, CH (catalogue)
Identity
Identity
Olaf Breuning is recorded with the occupation installation artist. Recorded as a citizen of Switzerland.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1970
Olaf Breuning was born on 16 February 1970.
Books
• Ugly, 2000, monograph, Hatje Cantz, • Home, 2004, monograph, JPR/Ringier, Magasin, Les Musees de Strasbourg, • Queen Mary, 2006, drawing catalogue, JPR/Ringier, • Queen Mary II, 2010, monograph, JPR/Ringier, Zurich
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Breuning, Olaf, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
reference work
- “Olaf Breuning”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3350134: Olaf Breuning
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.SIK ISEA, Olaf Breuning
- 2.SIK ISEA, Olaf Breuning (Ausstellungen)
- 3.Saiten, Das Fremde ist nur in der Fremde fremd, by Katharina Flieger, October 17, 2014.
- 4.Stiftung Binz39. www.binz39.ch.
- 5.Museum Tinguely - Metamatic. www.tinguely.ch.
- 6.Website not available.
- 7.Holzwege. Sentieri erranti. Arte svizzera dalla collezione della Mobiliare - SIKART Lexikon zur Kunst in der Schweiz. www.sikart.ch.
- 8.Home. www.kunsthallewien.at.
- 9.Through the Looking Brain – Kunstmuseum St.Gallen. www.kunstmuseumsg.ch.
- 10.Incongru. Quand l'art fait rire de - Exhibition / Ausstellung in Lausanne. www.art-report.com.
- 11.THROUGH THE LOOKING BRAIN: Kunstmuseum Bonn. www.kunstmuseum-bonn.de.
- 12.PressArt. Die Sammlung Annette und Peter Nobel.
- 13.Darkside II – Fotografische Macht und fotografierte Gewalt, Krankheit und Tod - Ausstellungen - Entdecken - Fotomuseum Winterthur. www.fotomuseum.ch.
- 14.CAN / Archives. www.can.ch.
- 15.Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst–Sammlung - Collection. www.migrosmuseum.ch.
- 16.Whitney Biennial 2008 - Whitney Museum of American Art. www.whitney.org.
- 17.Muehlheim, Didier. 12th BIM. www.centreimage.ch.
- 18.What We Bought.
- 19.Villarreal, Ignacio. All About Laughter: Humor in Contemporary Art. artdaily.com.
- 20.Six Feet Under "Autopsie unseres Umgangs mit Toten". Kunstmuseum Bern.
- 21.Imagination Becomes RealityPart IV: Borrowed Images - Sammlung Goetz. www.sammlung-goetz.de.
- 22.http://www.nicolavonsenger.com/e_archives_shermanetc.htm
- 23.Some Tribes.
- 24.www.likeyou.com - Urban Diaries : Young Swiss Art - Comunidad de Madrid. old.likeyou.com.
- 25.M_ARS - Ausstellung - Neue Galerie Graz. www.museum-joanneum.at.
- 26.Annelise Zwez about the exhibition
- 27.MoMA.org - Interactives - Exhibitions - 2001 - Collaborations with Parkett. www.moma.org.
- 28.Annelise Zwez about the exhibition
- 29.Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst–Let's Be Friends. www.migrosmuseum.ch.
- 30.http://www.emuseum.ch/view/exhibitions/asitem/items$0040:52/0
- 31.Reality Bytes. Der medial vermittelte Blick.
- 32.Eidgenössische Preise für freie Kunst 1999 - Kunsthalle Zürich. kunsthallezurich.ch.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Breuning, Olaf, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011Crossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- SchaffhausenPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Recognition and collections.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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