Silvie Defraoui

Silvie Defraoui (; born 1935) is a Swiss visual artist who uses various forms of artistic expression: installation, photography, painting, screen printing, and video art. She lives and works in Vufflens-le-Château.

Biography Silvie Defraoui was born in St. Gallen and spent her childhood there and in Grisons. She first studied painting at the l'école des Beaux-Arts d'Alger and later ceramics at the l'école des Arts décoratifs de Genève. Between 1975 and 1994 she worked together with Chérif Defraoui (Geneva 1932–1994). From 1974 to 1999 she taught at the l'Ecole supérieure d'art visuel de Genève (today the Geneva School of Art and Design), where in 1975 she established together with Chérif Defraoui, the Mixed Media Studio.

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 1979, Cartographie des contrées à venir, Soares dos Reis National Museum, Porto 1989, Orient/Occident, Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève / Musée Rath, Geneva. 1993, Les origines de la description, Le Magasin - Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Grenoble. 1996, Bruits de surface, Mamco, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva 2000, Nacht und Tag und Nacht, Helmhaus, Zurich 2004–2005, Archives du futur, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; Mamco, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Geneva 2009, Sombras electricas, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris

Group exhibitions 1976, Venice Biennial 1979, Photography as art, art as photography II und III, Gesamthochschule Kassel 1981, Ils se disent peintres, ils se disent photographes, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris 1992, La Fontaine du désir, documenta IX, Kassel 1997, Magie der Zahl, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart 1998, Freie Sicht aufs Mittelmeer, Kunsthaus, Zurich

Awards 2006, Kulturpreis of the City of St. Gallen

Publications Kihm, Christophe; Vögele, Christoph (2014). Silvie Defraoui. Und überdies Projektionen (Archives du futur). Zürich: Edition Fink. p. 96. . Bitterli, Konrad, editor (2004). Defraoui : archives du futur 1975 - 2004. Nürnberg: Verlag für Moderne Kunst. p. 248. .