Vanessa Billy

The public sculpture “Souffle” will come to life in the gardens of Fribourg’s brand-new Natural History Museum @mhnfribourg in 2028! Taking its cue from the museum’s unique specimen of a sei whale, the sculpture takes the form of a life-size whale’s back emerging from the ground - a subtle yet powerful hump, as if the mammal were rising to the surface to breathe. At the top of this oblong form, two blowholes release, at regular intervals, a misty cloud of atomized water. The whale’s body is made of repurposed shells, an eco-friendly aggregate that reveals the intricate shapes of molluscs on its surface. “Souffle” reminds us that the boundaries between species and environments are porous. The work becomes a symbol of the world’s breath, a reminder that every living being, visible or invisible, is part of a shared whole. 🤍 Visuals @lesliemajer #utsolarchitektur 🐋 Production with @kunstgussbasel 💦 Technical system #tobiasbuechel More info in link on bio #organicwaste#biobasedmaterial#sustainableart

Vanessa Billy (*1978, Genf) arbeitet an der Schnittstelle von Skulptur und Installation und untersucht die Beziehung zwischen Körper, Material und Umwelt. Mit organischen, synthetischen und recycelten Stoffen macht sie Prozesse von Transformation sichtbar und interessiert sich für die Übergänge zwischen Lebendigem und Unbelebtem. Ihre Arbeiten kreisen um ökologische Kreisläufe, Energieflüsse und die Frage, wie Materialien sich verändern, erinnern und neue Bedeutungen annehmen. E: Vanessa Billy (b. 1978, Geneva) works at the intersection of sculpture and installation, exploring the relationship between the body, materials and the environment. Using organic, synthetic and recycled materials, she makes processes of transformation visible and is interested in the transitions between the living and the non-living. Her works revolve around ecological cycles, energy flows and the question of how materials change, retain memories and take on new meanings.

Vanessa Billy «Pig» 2026, cast bronze 🤍 @vanessabbbilly For the exhibition «Shifting Matters. Vanessa Billy, Maya Bringolf, Jannik Giger, Zimoun», Kunstraum Baden @kunstraum_baden

Please join us for the next lecture in the Practice-based Research series, with Vanessa Billy, on Wednesday, 3 December. Vanessa Billy (b. 1978, Geneva) is a Zürich-based artist whose practice probes the permeability between the ‘dead’ and the ‘living’, revealing materiality as a constitutive force that shapes bodies, organisms, and ecosystems. Her sculptural works interlace waste products, disused industrial parts, and meticulously crafted elements, creating collisions between the biological and the synthetic. These juxtapositions expose the intricate entanglements that define our relationship with matter and the cycles that bind us to both natural and artificial worlds. Billy’s ongoing experiments with animal blood – a material and waste product she transforms into bio-based plastics – draw on historical techniques like Bois Durci, a 19th-century mixture of blood and sawdust used as an early plastic. Through these explorations, she interrogates themes of energy, transformation, and humanity’s evolving use of resources. @hgkbasel_fhnw @hgkbasel_idce @vanessabbbilly #PracticeBasedResearchLectureSeries Credits: 1 ©Sitterwerk and Theo Cowley 2 ©Sitterwerk and Theo Cowley 3 ©Sitterwerk and Theo Cowley 4 ©Vanessa Billy 5 ©Vanessa Billy 6 ©long_duree 7 ©long_duree

100 % animal blood, heat pressed. This research into bio-plastics began 6 years ago as I wanted to produce my own casting material and stop relying on commercial bio-polymers that are still environmentally problematic. I started looking at organic local waste streams, which is mostly made up of food industry leftovers. I was struck by the fact that 80% of the blood from slaughterhouses is disappeared / burnt and of the remaining 15% is used as fertilizer or pet feed and 5% for human consumption. Blood carries profound cultural and spiritual meanings, threading through human rituals, religions, and literature. It epitomizes the essence of life and the transition to death, embodying an intricate web of interpretations. Across cultures, blood embodies a spectrum of symbolism. It represents both life’s vitality coursing through veins and the inevitable end when spilled. Interestingly, in the 1800 a technique called Bois Durci – a litteral translation of ‘hardened wood’ - used blood and sawdust to create a wide range of utilitarian and decorative objects. A precursor of plastics, it was made obsolete by 1920’s with the arrival of synthetic plastics. A turning point was when I started polishing the pressed pieces – the surface became smooth and highly reflective! When I scaled up my mould, different shades came out, probably to do with heat variations. I can’t wait to take it to the next stage and produce finished pieces. Thank you #timbuechel for all the support #leonorkotoun for the precious assistance @sitterwerk for the residency @kunstgiesserei_sg for access to the workshops @prohelvetia for funding this research 📷 5 and 6 #theocowley, 2 and 4 @titazuriq #bioplastic #wastestreams #localressources #animalblood #hemoglobin #boisdurci

SUPERCONDUCTOR A flexible conduit that embodies the invisible infrastructures that we rely on in our daily lives. An installation in multiple parts that integrates itself architectonically by weaving its body to the fabric of the building. A hybrid organism that manifests forms of entanglement between Nature and Technology Infrastructures are the subjects studied at the Bildung Zentrum Limmattal, namely Logistics, Transport and Recycling - the stuff that seamlessly enables our contemporary urban experience. Study for BZLT, Kunst und Bau competition, Kanton Zürich, Hochbauamt. Bravo @veli_and_amos for winning the project! Thank you @lesliemajer for the amazing renderings! #earthworms #treetrunk #salamander #dragonfly #snake #hybridorganisms #cables #recycledmaterialsart #metals #ceramics#glass

Dear Life was made just after the first Tr*mp election and the Brexit vote in 2016: it felt bad enough then. She has a small device in her torso that makes her boby vibrate almost imperceptibly. The motor is a 1990’s diesel Citroen, the biggest and roundest I could find. It is dirty and trashy, with soot, loose old tape, electric wires hanging. Each time it was exhibited it left a patch of sump oil on the floor. It smells too. Perhaps if I made this work today I would have to make her convulse violently. #overabarrel @kunsthallesanktgallen 2016 @centreculturelsuisse 2017 @aargauerkunsthaus 2020

‘Fallen Suns’ are a group of works that explore the process of casting bronze. The series ‘Fallen Suns’ consist of enlarged lemons executed in bronze. Initially hand-modelled in wax, these ‘positives’ were then carefully contorted, their final shape arrived at via feeling out the limits of the material. The process of their making is both a physical and intellectual one, where the artist collaborates with materials and circumstances to enable the finished work to emerge. Fallen Suns continue the artist’s use of manipulated lemons as a subject, interested in them as she is for their associative qualities. From the visceral tang of their juice on the tongue to their thick waxy skin, pocked with pores. For their esoteric affinities with energy and the sun. Lastly for their shape, for their ability to evoke both bombs and breasts. Some are full, others depleted, provoking thoughts of extraction and cycles of regeneration. Commissioned by @ubsglobalart Most grateful to @raphael.schmid @rahelsarasin and @mielsener at Kunstbetrieb_ag for your total support, care and invaluable expertise 🤍🤍🤍 First shown at @ubsglobalart studio @artbasel 2024 in Hall 1, Art Basel, Basel. Currently on view @rehmannmuseum_laufenburg Documentary of the production process via link in bio

Wir sind ungemein gespannt auf unsere neue Ausstellungspublikation - freut euch mit uns! Kommt am 26. Januar vorbei und feiert mit uns die Buchvernissage. Das Gespräch mit Vanessa Billy und der Kuratorin Yasmin Afschar (Zürich) ist schliesslich ein Highlight der Ausstellung.

Am 8. November 2024, um 19:00 Uhr eröffnet das Rehmann-Museum die Ausstellung Technologie der Zukunft. Vanessa Billy, Brodie Ellis, Paul Schatz. Elektrizität spielt für unser tägliches Leben eine zentrale Rolle, gleichzeitig birgt ihre Produktion Gefahren und schafft ungelöste Probleme. In der Ausstellung im Rehmann-Museum stellt sich die Frage aus künstlerischer Sicht: Wie soll die Technologie der Zukunft aussehen? Wie vertragen sich Elektrizität und Ökologie? Vanessa Billy, Brodie Ellis und Paul Schatz geben darauf keine eindeutige Antworten, bieten aber eine künstlerische Sicht auf dringende Voraussetzungen für neue Technologien. Kunstschaffende: @vanessabbbilly , @brodieellisart , #paulschatz #paulschatzstiftung 9.11.24-20.6.25, Vernissage, 8.11.24, 19 Uhr Kuration: @michael_hilt_brunner Design: @role.std

Technologie der Zukunft. Vanessa Billy, Brodie Ellis, Paul Schatz 9. November 2024 bis 29. Juni 2025 Vernissage 8. November 2024, 19 Uhr Vanessa Billy (*1978 in Genf, wohnhaft in Zürich) und Brodie Ellis (*1979 in Lismore, wohnhaft im Dja Dja Wurrung Country, Castlemaine, Australien) setzen sich mit der Frage zur elektrischen Infrastruktur in der Region auseinander. Dafür schaffen sie im Rehmann-Museum ortsbezogene Werke. Wissenschaftlich-ästhetische Anregungen finden sich im Werk des Mathematikers und Künstlers Paul Schatz (1898–1979, geboren in Konstanz, verstorben in Arlesheim), der sich zeitlebens für eine ‹naturfreundliche Maschinenbaukunst› und für umweltverträgliche Zukunftstechnologien einsetzte. @vanessabbbilly @brodieellisart Ausstellung im Rehmann-Museum @rehmannmuseum_laufenburg Kuratiert von Michael Hiltbrunner @michael_hilt_brunner Grafikdesign @role.std

Material Migrations came out in the spring issue of @fieldnotes_london It is a text and image commission that describes a day spent walking across an uninhabited mining island. An eerie experience that reflects the afterlife of extractive practices and their effects on the environment - it was like scrambling along shores of regurgitated matter… Thank you @natasha_cox_ok for the invitation and the conversations #bellamarrin for the expert editing @intheshadeofatree for the layout And @lydiaxynogala @750mineralsprings.gr for making the experience even possible 💙