installation view of ‘no future’ by christoph büchel at the biennale of sydney 2008 image © designboom

while at the biennale of sydney, designboom also visited another one of the official venues which was at the
museum of contemporary art.  it is also australia’s only museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting the
work of contemporary artists. for the biennale it houses a number of artworks including swiss artist
christoph büchel’s ‘no future’, a video and performative installation.

‘no future’ transforms the gallery into a rehearsal space for a punk band of volunteers who are over the age of 80 years. in the space they rehearse the 1977 sex pistol’s hit, ‘god save the queen’, originally called ‘no future’, which was banned from BBC, but still made its way to the top of the charts despite this. the band gathers for practice and performs in public whenever they please during the gallery’s opening hours, during which their sessions are video-taped and recorded and will be released on DVD and CD at the end of the biennale.

christoph büchel at the biennale of sydney 2008 lead singer jill mckay practices ‘god save the queen’ with her band mates photo courtesy of lisa wiltse

christoph büchel at the biennale of sydney 2008 video still of ‘no future’ by christoph büchel, 2008 image © designboom

more:

http://www.bos2008.com http://www.mca.com.au

designboom snapshot report: christoph büchel at the biennale of sydney 2008