Paul McCarthy Spin Offs: White Snow WS, Caribbean Pirates CP, Hauser & Wirth, 14 June – 25 July 2015
After shaking up Paris with his inflatable Christmas-themed sex toys, McCarthy again takes inspiration from famous Disney characters to create his own spin-offs, which, needless to say, depart from the familiar fairytale endings. The show will include a new series of sculptures from his White Snow Project (2009–), depicting the cartoon character and her friends Bambi and Thumper in explicit and compromising situations, as well as a carnivalesque Caribbean Pirates installation.
Toys Redux: On Play and Critique, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, 30 May–16 August 2015
Staying with appropriation and subversion, this group show brings together artists who adopt and manipulate motifs from children’s and teen pop culture imagery (disseminated through video games, television shows, movies, and cartoons) to critique the ruthless capitalist strategies at play behind the fantasy world they promise. Works will be included from artists from different generations including Cory Arcangel, Alex Bag, Patterson Beckwith, Harun Farocki, Nic Hess, and Judith Bernstein.
Dieter Meier: Acrobatics 1977-2015, Grieder Contemporary, 14 June–25 July
On a less political but just as playful note, is Grieder Contemporary’s presentation of Zürich-born Dieter Meier’s video works Acrobatics, which the artist/musician and Yello frontman has been realising throughout the past three decades. In each of Meier’s short videos, the artist repeatedly attempts absurdist and acrobatic stunts, not as an illustration of failure but as a demonstration of a positive will to keep trying.
Fernando Botero: Santas, Galerie Gmurzynska, 15 June –31 July
Santas is the title of Botero’s solo exhibition opening at Galerie Gmurzynska, which features a series of large-scale portraits of iconic female saints. Although acknowledging the style of the Western canon for the representation of saints (from Rubens to Goya), Botero’s ‘Santas’ not only subvert the genre through the artist’s own painting style but by mischievously depicting the martyrs as fashionable, accessorised society women.
AAA: Art Altstetten Albisrieden, Albisrieden and Altstetten neighbourhood, 13 June –13 Sept
Finally, organised by Zürich’s department of urbanisation and the division of art in public place is this summer exhibition of public art across the neighbourhoods of Altstetten and Albisrieden in the West of the city. Artists including Nevin Aladag, Carl Bucher, Jeppe Hein and Olaf Nicolai will be presenting around 30 new projects that explore the intersection of art and urbanity, making use of the area’s multiple artist-run and non-profit spaces.
Online exclusive published on 11 June 2015.
