Zilla Leutenegger

Born in Zürich in 1968, Zilla Leutenegger develops installations that combine narrative, memory and atmosphere, often through the presence of a filmed or drawn alter ego («Zilla»). Her narratives are rarely linear and favour the capture of fleeting atmospheres and emotions.

Her childhood, marked by repeated moves, fostered a reflection on the relationship we maintain with our living spaces and domesticity. This concern with the intimate runs through stylised female figures with adolescent features, imbued with a certain melancholy, which question gender stereotypes.

Leutenegger’s work draws on drawing, video and installation; the alter ego appears sometimes filmed, sometimes drawn, as a recurring narrative device.

Her first solo exhibition in New York was presented at Spencer Brownstone Gallery from 10 April to 10 May 2003. Her institutional presentations include Fair Lady Z at Museum Franz Gertsch (2014) and Ring My Bell at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2015).

Several publications accompany her work, including ZillaGorilla (Stephan Kunz), published by Bündner Kunstmuseum in 2021, and Pianos & Melonen (2019), with texts by Kathleen Bühler and Marina Porobic associated with the Fondation de L’Abbatiale in Bellelay.

She taught at the Department of Architecture and Art at ETH Zurich and at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste between 2014 and 2020. Her distinctions include several grants from the City of Zurich (2001, 2002, 2004), the Manor Kunstpreis (2004) and the Eidgenössischer Preis für Kunst (2005).

Among the recent works mentioned are Sit & Wait (2020), indicated as courtesy the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann (Zürich, Paris), and Wäschespinne I (2026), indicated as courtesy the artist and Galerie Judin (Berlin).

Taken as a whole, Leutenegger’s work brings together intimate memory and fragmentary narrative forms, recomposing scenarios of everyday life through the repetition of images, motifs and a pivotal character that questions gendered roles.