CHASOS

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CHASOS was a satirical art project started in 2011 by Andreas Heusser. It used the performance of pastor Wilfried Stocher as the president of a fictional charity called the Christian Humanitarian Asylum Self-Aid Organization Switzerland (CHASOS). The project responded to Swiss debates about refugees during the Arab Spring by poking fun at those who wanted to block refugees rather than help them. It began with a propaganda video where Stocher warns about waves of refugees and tries to deter them from entering Switzerland, mocking a government anti-immigrant ad.

Next, Stocher launched an online petition demanding that funding for artists and cultural institutions be suspended and redirected to refugee aid, which angered many artists. During Art Basel, a refugee camp with only the bare essentials was set up in hall 32, surrounded by barbed wire and video monitoring. Its stated aim was not to shelter refugees but to protect the Swiss population by imprisoning them. The creator said the camp was meant to be populated by real refugees, but participants left before it began. The project was discussed on a blog about how far political art can or must go to gain attention.