Silvie Defraoui – On Words

Silvie Defraoui, born in 1935, is a pioneer of video art and art education in Switzerland. From 1975 onwards she worked in collaboration with her husband Chérif Defraoui (1932–1994). Together they developed the Archives du Futur, a reflection on images, their status and potential for memory and the future, and founded the legendary Atelier Médias Mixtes at Geneva’s École supérieure des Beaux-Arts (now HEAD—Genève). Since 1995, Defraoui pursues a practice using various forms of expression, including projection, installation, ceramics, and serigraphy. On Words is a collection of interviews with leading contemporary women artists. In conversation with Julie Enckell Julliard, Federica Martini, and Sarah Burkhalter, they speak about the sources from which they draw inspiration, themes in their work, and their view of the world. The series brings together a wide range of viewpoints and adds a new narrative to polyphonic art history as told by those who actively shape it.