Between galleries and museums

Zurich Art Weekend turns on the spotlight before Basel

Between new galleries, non-profit spaces and alternative fair formats, the city shows all its cultural dynamism and quality art

by Silvia Anna Barrilà

16 June 2025

Augustas-Serapinas, Galerie-Tschudi, foto di Urs Westermann, Courtesy Zurich Gallery Weekend 2025

4' min read

Key points

New fair
Gallery offer

4' min read

Before the start of Basel Week, the Swiss tour of collectors and art professionals started in Zurich for the Zurich Art Weekend (13-15 June). Born eight years ago as an initiative of a few gallery owners to take advantage of the passage of American collectors to Basel, the event has lost that audience, but has developed into a more structured event. Today it involves not only private galleries but also cultural institutions, with the support of the local tourist board and the sponsorship of the Julius Baer bank, which boasts a collection of over 5,000 Swiss artworks.

Last year's event registered 45,000 visitors (of which 5,000 VIPs) and this year again offered a rich programme of 75 exhibitions, 150 artists, 71 locations and 150 public events. Participation requires a variable contribution: according to rumours, it ranges from a few hundred euros for non-profit spaces to 3,500 euros for galleries (half the fee for Berlin's Gallery Weekend), but those who wish can add a contribution to access the gala dinner held on Saturday evening at the Kunsthaus Zürich - an immersive experience among the works of Jeffrey Gibson (US representative at the last Venice Biennale), culminating in a performance by Alexandra Bachzetsis. On the majestic staircase designed by Chipperfield, the performers exchanged clothes, creating a fluid whirlwind of identities.

Ida Ekblad, SEPTIC SUN, 2025, Courtesy Karma International

A new fair

The event reflects the variety and dynamism of the local scene, where renowned galleries such as Hauser & Wirth - with its exhibitions dedicated to the masters Mark Rothko, Robert Ryman, Ed Clark and Pat Steir - dialogue with a network of over 50 non-profit spaces. These include venues such as Jevouspropose, which presented a performance by Englishman Billy Morgan, and We Are Hague - Awareness in Art, which transformed the Botanical Garden into a stage for the Italian duo Invernomuto, mixing natural sounds and electronic music in a sensory experience.

Among this year's novelties is a new fair for research galleries: Gallery House, promoted by Lorenzo Bernet's Zurich gallery Sunworks. Thirteen galleries took part, including two Italian galleries: Federico Vavassori of Milan and Studioli of Rome, which proposed a wide selection of artists of different generations, from Rochelle Feinstein (present with a painting for 50,000 dollars) to Federico Fellini (with some drawings around 5,000 euros), up to emerging Italian artists such as Marino Melarangelo, born in 1974, who will also have a solo exhibition at the gallery in November (present here with erotic drawings for 2.500 euros), Valerie Giampietro (photographs at 1,700 euros) and Alessandro Cicoria (sculptures and gouaches at 1,300-3,500 euros).

L’opera di Tamara Lempicka da Sotheby’s

Lovay Fine Arts in Geneva has also focused on Italian art with Lucia di Luciano, a 94-year-old artist who was a protagonist of programmed art in the 1960s-70s but then disappeared from the scene, now she is back with a new wave of creativity (prices 7-11 thousand euros).

The galleries' offer

But that was not the only novelty. On Friday evening Sotheby's inaugurated its new premises at the beginning of Rämistrasse, the street leading up to the Kunsthaus Zürich and bringing together the city's most important galleries, with an exhibition dominated byTamara de Lempicka's 1927 painting 'La Belle Rafaëla', which will be auctioned in London on 24 June with an estimate of £6-9 million. Also gallery owner Urs Meile, originally from Lucerne but present in China for more than 20 years, opened a new branch in Zurich in the Wiedikon district. Already present in the city for two years with a space on Rämistrasse, he was persuaded by the internationality of the city to close the gallery in Lucerne and open this new large space with an exhibition of artists from different generations and backgrounds, ranging from established Chinese artists like Shao Fan (CHF 200-250,000) to emerging Swiss artists like Rebekka Steiger (CHF 17-25,000).

PatSteir, Hauser & Wirth, fotografia di Jon Trachsel, Courtesy Zurich Art Weekend 2025

Not far from Urs Meile is one of the best exhibitions of the weekend, that of the Norwegian Ida Ekblad (born 1980) at Karma International. Known for her material paintings, which draw on art history as well as graffiti, the artist has been working in a more sculptural manner for a few years now and presents here three-dimensional wall works in Murano glass and bronze and sculptures in space that are also functional, such as a large iron stove engraved with a portrait of her sleeping daughter (prices from $40,000 to $220,000).

Another interesting exhibition was that of the MoroccanSoufiane Ababri, born in 1985, based in Paris, at Flatmarkus, a gallery-apartment of Markus Rischgasser, former partner of Eva Presenhuber. The paintings are still lifes created on the bed, the artist's work space, reflecting his history but speaking of universal and topical themes of identity and tolerance (from EUR 2,500 up to EUR 8,000). The LithuanianAugustas Serapinas also speaks of individual and at the same time collective memory in his first solo exhibition at Galerie Tschudi, with sculptures partly edible and partly made of copper, recalling a traditional dessert of his country and through it its history and cultural heritage.

Monster Chetwynd, Smouldering exuberance, 2025, tecnica mista e collage su carta, Courtesy dell’artista e Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurigo

Also among the stars of the art weekend was Monster Chatwynd, a British artist based in Zurich, with a solo show at the Kunsthaus and a parallel exhibition at his gallery, Gregor Staiger (prices £1,750-25,000). His fantastical imagery of nocturnal animals and fantastic creatures has generated an immersive exhibition that will culminate in a large installation in the museum garden at the end of summer: a gigantic head you can enter and climb up to a viewing tower.

Collectors and curators are now on their way to Art Basel, but the exhibitions in Zurich remain open and the city is confirmed as a year-round artistic attraction, perhaps more so than Basel.