Art Talks

[Translate to English:] art talks

Every semester, ZHdK's Department of Fine Arts presents a series of public talks with various guests from the contemporary art and culture sector. All talks are held in English. Admission is free and no registration is required. 

Claire Fontaine

Wednesday, 11 March 2026, 6:00 pm
Room 7.K01, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, Zurich

Claire Fontaine is a collective, conceptual, and feminist art project, founded in 2004 by Fulvia Carnevale and James Thornhill in Paris. Since 2017, they live and work in Palermo. Their works have been exhibited internationally and are held in numerous museum collections. Claire Fontaine represents a space of resistance against the branding of artists’ authorship and the homogenisation of formats in times of censorship and crisis. The 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 was titled Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, after their seminal neon series Foreigners Everywhere. Their works were presented in the main venues of the Giardini and Arsenale, including the largest installation to date from the series: 60 neons suspended over the lagoon at the Gaggiandre. Monographs and essays on their work have been published in multiple languages, most recently Claire Fontaine, a User’s Manual by Anita Chari (2024). In 2025, Claire Fontaine received the Italian Council with the project Show Less, which will continue in Rome in 2027.

Claire Fontaine

Francesca Pia

Thursday, 26 March 2026, 6:00 pm
Room 5.K11, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, Zurich

Francesca Pia opened a gallery in Bern in 1990, focusing on contemporary art. Initially, her artist selection was intuitive; over time, the gallery developed into a structured program. In 2007, she relocated to Zurich, to the Löwenbräukunst Areal. In 2025, she closed the gallery after 35 years. Her exhibitions included artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn, Roman Signer, Betty Woodman, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Mai-Thu Perret, and Wade Guyton. In Zurich, the gallery expanded its programme while maintaining a focus on artists from French-speaking Switzerland.

Francesca Pia

Vera Vita Gioia

Thursday, 16 April 2026, 6:00 pm
Viaduktraum 2.A05, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, Zurich

Vera Vita Gioia was born in Naples, where she also lives and works. She studied Literature at the University of Naples Federico II. Since the 1980s, she has worked as an art critic and developed editorial projects for Flash Art, including Arte Design and Arte Moda, conducting interviews with leading designers and architects. In 1992, she founded the gallery Veravitagioia, presenting internationally recognised artists such as David Hammons, Franz West, and Sue Williams. In 2021, she opened Capnapoliest, an independent exhibition and research space in a former factory, connecting local and international artistic practices.

Vera Vita Gioia

Alfatih

Wednesday, 13 May 2026, 6:00 pm
Room 3.E08, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, Zurich

Alfatih has presented works internationally in institutions and art centres such as Kunsthaus Langenthal, CIRCUIT Contemporary Art Center, MASI Lugano, Musée des Beaux-Arts Le Locle, Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement Geneva, Swiss Institute New York, Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneva, and Haus der Elektronischen Künste Basel. Their practice encompasses exhibitions, interventions, and projects that engage with both local contexts and international discourse.

alfatih