Artist Talk: Raphael Hefti

On the occasion of our current exhibition, highlighting some of our latest addition to the Collection, Art Vontobel invites you to our upcoming Artist Talk on June 6 2025, at our headquarters in Zurich with the internationally acclaimed artist Raphael Hefti.

Celebrated as one of Switzerland’s most exciting contemporary positions, Hefti is known for his experimental approach, driven by a fascination with industrial and post-industrial processes. Positioned at the intersection of performance and production, his works challenge the boundaries of traditional techniques, offering new perspectives on materiality and transformation. While his earlier work was deeply rooted in experimental photography, his approach has since evolved to incorporate other media, such as sculpture and large-scale installations.

We invite you to visit the exhibition and meet the artist, who will give us an insight into his ever-evolving practice and latest projects.

Venue

Foyer and Auditorium, Vontobel, Gotthardstrasse 43, 8002 Zürich

Program June 6, 2025

12:00	Welcome Apéro
12:30	Welcome Address	David Ryan, Head CEO Office and member of the Vontobel Arts Commission
12:35	Artist Talk	Artist Talk: Raphael Hefti
13:30	Flying Lunch
14:30	End of the event

We look forward to your participation and kindly ask you to register by Friday, May 23, 2025:

Attend the event

About

Raphael Hefti

Raphael Hefti (*1978, Boudevilliers, CH) is a Swiss artist renowned for his transformative explorations of industrial materials and processes.

Trained in electrical engineering, Hefti moved into the realm of art, studying photography at ECAL (École cantonale d'art de Lausanne) and later earning his MFA at Slade School of Fine Art in London. This interdisciplinary background continues to inform his practice that is grounded in collaboration—with engineers, technicians, and scientists—to manipulate materials such as glass, metal, gases or photographic paper in unconventional ways in order to challenge both functional and aesthetic expectations.

What began with large-scale experimental photography has since moved to involves large-scale installations and artistic interventions. His works invite viewers to reconsider the materials and techniques that shape our modern world, emphasizing the intersection of functionality, failure, and beauty.

Living and working in Zurich, Hefti has been exhibited internationally, including: Kunsthalle Basel; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Liverpool Biennale; Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles; Nottingham Contemporary; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; Camden Art Centre, London and Photoforum PasquArt, Biel. Recent works include Sternstaubgewürfel—Starmix, a site-specific installation created for Zurich’s newly opened University Children’s Hospital, and Five Things You Can’t Wear on TV, a performative installation-intervention staged in the middle of Palm Desert for this year’s Desert X biennale.