Thursday 23.10.2025 6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
The Swiss-American photographer Vera Mercer (*1936 in Berlin) initially trained as a dancer before turning to photographing objects, portraits and neo-baroque still lifes. Initially living in Paris and later in Omaha, Nebraska, Vera Mercer immersed herself in the vibrant art scenes of numerous metropolises from the late 1950s onwards. In 1958, she married the Swiss object and EatArt artist Daniel Spoerri (1930-2024), from whom she separated after a few years. Since then, Mercer has worked continuously with photography and quickly became known as a portraitist in particular. She produced photo reportages on Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett and Andy Warhol as well as documentary photos for Eva Aeppli, Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle, with which she achieved great recognition. From the 1990s she also created murals for restaurants and hotels in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. Together with her second husband Mark Mercer (1943-2019), she is also active as a restaurateur herself. Her detailed still lifes masterfully showcase nature and cultural artefacts and are exhibited internationally.
For the exhibition at ZAK, Vera Mercer gave photo historian and journalist Jens Pepper access to her extensive archive in Omaha in 2024. This enabled numerous early portrait works to be scanned and prepared for the exhibition.
The tour will be held in German.
/ Meeting point: ZAK Center for Contemporary Art
/ Free of charge
