He studied art history, philosophy and German literature at the University of Zurich, where he served as assistant lecturer.
In 1980, he was awarded a three-year grant by the Swiss National Fund for research stays at the Free University of Berlin (FU) and at the Istituto Svizzero di Roma.
After a visiting professorship at Bonn University and a scholarship at the Getty Center in Santa Monica, Wyss was appointed professor for art history by Ruhr University Bochum in 1990.
Since 2004 he has been holding the chair in art history and media theory at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, where he also served as speaker of the Graduate School „Bild – Körper – Medium“ (Image – Body -Medium)[1] from 2003 to 2009.
From 2008 to 2011 he was professorial fellow at the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA) in Zürich.