Artfacts.Net: Christoph Büchel – HOLE

Artfacts.Net: Christoph Büchel – HOLE

Aside at installations. Büchel repeatedly carries out more conceptual projects and actions which deal with current political conflicts. His project with Gianni Motti entitled "Guantánamo Initiative" highlighted the USA's claim on Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. The USA maintains an internment camp there for terror suspects who are mainly Moslems. Given the fact that the USA is not obliged to apply its own laws in this extraterritorial space, various infringements of the prisoners' human rights are the result. On the other hand, the USA are also contravening the rental contract which they themselves forced on Cuba, because the rented land should not be used for military purposes. With their initiative, Büchel and Motti attempted to legally rent Guantánamo Bay from the state of Cuba. The resulting correspondence, plus documentary material, including a copy of the rental contract between America and Cuba dated 1901, were presented by the artists in a transport container at this year's Venice biennial.

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