Susanne Bieri
Brief Biography
Susanne Bieri, Dr. phil., studied art and architectural history and comparative religious studies at the University of Bern and received her doctorate in art history from the University of Basel. She is head of the Prints and Drawings Department (GS) and the Special Collections of the Swiss National Library (NL), developed and researched the collections (Schweizer Kleinmeister, prints, photography, artists' books, posters, artists' archives), published and curated exhibitions (1995 - 2020). From 2021 she is a scientific staff member of the NL directorate and in this role she will mainly publish, currently on artist's books in Switzerland.
Susanne Bieri: Bild und Bibliothek. Die Graphische Sammlung der schweizerischen Nationalbibliothek oder wie die Kunst in die Bibliothek kam und warum sie dort geblieben ist. Verlag Schwabe, Basel 2017. ISBN 978-3-7965-3752-3
Current Projects
With the publication "SCHWEIZER KÜNSTLERBÜCHER - LIVRES D'ARTISTES SUISSES - LIBRI D'ARTISTA SVIZZERI - SWISS ARTISTS' BOOKS" the NL plans to close a gap and present an overview of the artist's book as a media phenomenon with a multicultural character in Switzerland since the 1950s. Based on many years of constant research into its own collection - nota bene the most comprehensive collection of artists' books in our country - the publication aims to question the artist's book as the product of an overall artistic achievement and define it as a Swiss cultural phenomenon with an international dimension.