Monster Chetwynd: The Trompe l’oeil Cleavage at the Kunsthaus Zürich

Monster Chetwynd

With her groundbreaking presentation at the Kunsthaus Zürich, Monster Chetwynd has pushed the boundaries of exhibition space and conventional composition, creating an immersive experience that engages all the senses.

It is, in the truest sense of the word, a walk-in trompe l'oeil that awaits visitors in the Chipperfield building – a scenography specially created by Chetwynd for this exhibition and ready to be discovered by visitors.

It's almost too banal to call it an exhibition. Or to describe the space as an exhibition space. What we usually think of as a museum space is no longer recognizable. Monster Chetwynd has created his own fantastical world and transformed the space with wallpaper, image detail, and sculptures.

We wander between moments from art history and pop culture events with plenty of humor through a world inhabited by monsters, butterflies, fantasy creatures, and the Ninja Turtles. Caterpillars crawling on the ground seem to be eating each other before the eyes of an overpowering peacock. Small dioramas depict imaginary worlds and fleeting snapshots.

The rooms within the transformed exhibition space are worlds modeled down to the last detail: walkable, experiential, audible, and visually stimulating. We encounter sculptures and models, paintings and drawings, photographs and video recordings. The exhibition is interdisciplinary and handcrafted down to the smallest detail. Even the tables stand on handcrafted monster feet, and from everywhere, bizarrely shaped heads of indefinable creatures gaze down at visitors.

Around every corner, every bend, every passage, something new awaits the curious visitor's eye and provides an entertaining guide through this magnificent exhibition of Chetwynd's monsters.

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Monster Chetwynd

The Trompe l'oeil Cleavage

Kunsthaus Zurich, Chipperfield Building

May 16-August 31, 2025