Grand Opening | Four New Exhibitions at the ZAK Center for Contemporary Art

ZAK – Center for Contemporary Art

Friday 19.9.2025 7.00 p.m. - 11.30 p.m.

On a warm summer evening, the ZAK Center for Contemporary Art will throw open its doors to unveil four captivating new exhibitions, unfolding across more than 2,000 square meters of gallery space. Guests will be welcomed on the second floor by Dr. Carola Brückner, District Councillor for Culture, and Dr. Ralf F. Hartmann, Head of the Department of Culture and curator of three of the shows. From September 20, 2025, to January 11, 2026, visitors are invited to explore this diverse program of contemporary art in all its breadth and vibrancy.

Vera Mercer – Life in Focus / A Retrospective
With an introduction by curator Jens Pepper
ZAK / Gallery / OG

Pfelder – gold
With an introduction by curator Dr. Ralf F. Hartmann
ZAK / Gallery / EG

Simone Zaugg – Urban Reflections
With an introduction by curator Dr. Ralf F. Hartmann
ZAK / Galerie / EG

Sharon Kivland – The Bloody Radicals
With an introduction by curator Dr. Ralf F. Hartmann
ZAK / Project room

Performance during the vernissage

For ITINERANT INTERLUDE #233, Laurie Schwartz presents “les sansculottides”, for vocalist, accordion and percussion, created especially for the opening of Sharon Kivland’s THE BLOODY RADICALS. Because 2025 is Year 233 in the French Republican calendar. Because these are the days of the sans-culottes. “les sansculottides” draws inspiration and materials from the wealth of references, myths, and revolutionary ideals that animate Kivland’s THE BLOODY RADICALS, not least, the radical possibility of reimagining time itself.

Anna Clementi, voice
Silke Lange, accordion
Burkhard Beins, percussion