HIGHLIGHTS OF ZURICH ART WEEKEND
- Jun 12, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 13, 2025
13-15 June 2025
While Art Basel often steals the spotlight each June, Zürich Art Weekend has steadily earned its own place on the art world’s radar since its debut in 2018. Scheduled for June 13–15, the event unfolds just ahead of the Basel fair and benefits from its close proximity, making it an unmissable stop for art enthusiasts on their way to Basel. Discover here our selection from the collection Hubert Looser at the Kunsthaus Zürich, Pat Steir at Hauser & Wirth, Franz West at Eva Presenhuber and more.
The Kunsthaus Zürich continues its exploration of the Hubert Looser Collection with a focused presentation on Arte Povera, one of the three core strands of the long-term loan alongside Abstract Expressionism and Minimal Art. Featuring 70 carefully selected works, this second chapter spotlights the raw materiality and poetic sensibility of the Arte Povera movement. Central to the exhibition is Respirare l’ombra (2005) by Giuseppe Penone—an immersive installation composed of aromatic laurel leaves that blurs the boundaries between art, nature, and the senses. Penone’s practice is shown in dialogue with other key figures from the movement, including Mario Merz and Lucio Fontana, offering a rich and tactile journey through one of postwar Europe’s most radical artistic developments. With works by Giuseppe Penone, Lucio Fontana, Mario Merz, Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Sean Scully, Richard Long and Fabienne Verdier.
Pat Steir at Hauser & Wirth. Until 13 September 2025
Coinciding with Zurich Art Weekend, Pat Steir’s exhibition at Hauser & Wirth’s Limmatstrasse gallery marks her first solo show with the gallery in Europe. The celebrated New York-based artist, known for her groundbreaking fusion of conceptual art, figuration, and abstraction, presents a new body of work ahead of her upcoming solo exhibition in July at the gallery’s Wooster Street location in New York. There, nearly five decades after its original creation, Steir will revisit and reinterpret one of her seminal wall drawings.
Franz West at Galerie Eva Presenhuber. Until October 3 2025
Galerie Eva Presenhuber presents Franz West: Die frühen Werke / Early Works, an exhibition spotlighting sculptures and objects created between 1975 and 1990 by the late Austrian artist Franz West (1947–2012, Vienna). Featuring rarely seen works from private collections—most notably those of West’s longtime mentor, curator and former gallerist Peter Pakesch (b. 1955, Graz), as well as the gallery’s own holdings—the exhibition offers an intimate look at the artist’s formative years. A new publication accompanies the show, along with photographs by Friedl Kubelka and film screenings by Andreas Reiter Raabe and Bernhard Riff in a dedicated adjoining space. This marks the twelfth exhibition at the gallery since the beginning of its long-standing relationship with West.
GALLERIES OPENING NEW SPACES
To celebrate the inauguration of its new space in Zurich, Galerie Andrea Caratsch presents a focused exhibition of silkscreen portraits by Andy Warhol, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century art. This presentation brings together a compelling selection of works that reflect Warhol’s enduring fascination with power in its many forms—artistic, political, and cultural. The portraits span a diverse cast of figures who shaped both his personal universe and the wider socio-political landscape: revered artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Joseph Beuys, influential gallerists including Bruno Bischofberger, Thomas Ammann, and Sidney Janis, and emblematic political figures such as Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin, and then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Also featured is a striking large-scale portrait of Russell Means, the Native American activist, whose commanding presence underscores Warhol’s engagement with political dissent and civil rights. Alongside these are several of Warhol’s iconic self-portraits, where the artist places himself among his subjects—as both observer and symbol of the power he so keenly examined.
Fabienne Levy announces the opening of her third gallery space, now in the heart of Zurich at Rämistrasse 27—joining existing locations in Lausanne and Geneva. Unlike the shared programming of the first two venues, the Zurich space is envisioned as an independent platform for experimentation, collaboration, and fresh ideas. It will not only showcase the gallery’s roster of artists but also welcome guest creatives and galleries, fostering dynamic and thoughtful artistic exchanges. To celebrate this new chapter, the gallery launches with a two-week pop-up exhibition featuring a lively selection of works by artists from its program. Serving as both an introduction to Zurich and a preview of the gallery’s curatorial direction, the show includes pieces by Alina Frieske, Anna Fasshauer, Catherine Bolle, Andrea Galvani, Rebecca Brodskis, Daniela Edburg, Tang Shuo, Adriel Visoto, Mattania Bösiger, Lucia Hierro, Anjesa Dellova, and Norbert Bisky. Each artist contributes a distinct voice, medium, and energy to this vibrant collective greeting. Following the exhibition, the space will undergo further transformation ahead of its official relaunch in September.
Thomas Ruff "expériences lumineuses" at Mai 36 Galerie Until 09 August 2025
Mai 36 Galerie debuts "expériences lumineuses", a new body of work by Thomas Ruff, unveiled in conjunction with Zurich Art Weekend. Known for his ongoing investigation into the foundations and evolution of photography, Ruff continues to challenge conventional notions of the medium by probing its very origins. Unlike painting, photography is deeply rooted in the physics of light—refraction, radiation, and the interaction of optical phenomena with surfaces. With "expériences lumineuses", Ruff turns his attention to these elemental forces, using photography to explore and visualize the interplay of light, glass, and perception in a refined, almost scientific approach.
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