Zilla Leutenegger: SPACES BETWEEN

Museum Tinguely presents the exhibition SPACES BETWEEN with works by Zilla Leutenegger, one of the most defining voices in Swiss contemporary art. Ten multimedia installations and three monotypes are presented in various places around the museum, where her quiet, poetic video drawings meet the mechanical dynamism of Jean Tinguely’s machines. Sharing the space like “tenants in an apartment block”, they create a dialogue that is neither competitive nor harmonic, each achieving a forceful presence.

In order to grant insights into this playfully poetic, mysteriously inhabited architecture, all of her works (with the exception of the monotypes) were modified and adapted to the specific conditions at Museum Tinguely. ZillaGorilla (2021/2026), for example, who at Bündner Kunstmuseum sat under a flight of stairs, now cowers in one of the huge crates used to transport Tinguely’s sculptures. In Plein Soleil (2026), the protagonist Zilla dangles her legs not from a diving board but from a crossbeam high up in the space. In Sit&Wait (2020) a cat waits in front of a bannister, prompting us to ask what exactly it is waiting for. Such traces and shadows of a living presence can be found all round the museum.

Born in 1968 in Zürich, the artist has established herself as an important figure within the contemporary art scene in Switzerland. Her work focuses on the merging of analog and digital media: reduced wall drawings are layered with projected video elements, the static spatial situation brought to life by the shadow of a moving figure. She uses these carefully constructed installations for a profound form of storytelling. In many works, her alter ego “Zilla” (filmed, drawn, or digitally generated) performs everyday activities like reading, waiting, or looking out of the window. With these subtle narratives the artist elicits the viewer’s own memories.

Leutenegger’s non-linear narratives capture atmospheric states and fleeting emotions. The mood switches smoothly between tension, relief, and often also amusement. The spaces created by light, projection, and sketches appear as walk-in dream sequences where the lines dividing fiction from reality are blurred. Two- and three-dimensionality seem to merge. At Museum Tinguely, her poetic works enter into a fascinating dialogue with the museum’s own collection, telling a story about movement, light, and space that offers a fresh take on the poetry of the every-day. 

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with Museum Tinguely, Basel, and the Museo de Arte Zapopan.

Curator: Andres Pardey, in close collaboration with the artist

Events

Presentation of exhibition catalogue: December 10, 6:30pm
With the artist. Free admission, in German

Zilla's Guests: January 17, 11am
A conversation between the artist and Sara Bernshausen, curator and Deputy Director of the PalaisPopulaire, Berlin. Free admission, in German

Curator's tour with the artist: February 4, 7pm
Free admission, in German

Zilla's Guests: February 21, 11am
Zilla Leutenegger and curator Andres Pardey talk with Michele Robecchi, writer and curator. Free admission, in English