The storied Baur au Lac in Zurich, a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, unveils the lineup for the 23rd edition of its Art in the Park exhibition.
Masterminded by the current sixth-generation owner, Gigi Kracht, the prestigious event has become a firm fixture on the Zurich cultural calendar and beyond, taking place between June 16th and July 23rd 2025, coinciding with Zurich Art Weekend and a week before Art Basel.
In partnership with Zurich’s Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Baur au Lac is proud to announce that the following highly acclaimed international artists will be exhibiting at this year’s event: Sam Falls (US), Mark Handforth (HK), Jean-Marie Appriou (FR), Valentin Carron (CH) and Louisa Gagliardi (CH). Taking place in the hotel’s leafy park overlooking Lake Zurich, the artists will showcase a mix of sculptures and paintings.
An avid art collector, member of the Guggenheim board, and writer, Gigi Kracht lives between New York and Zurich and conceived the concept for Art In The Park 25 years ago during a meeting with the late Colombian artist and sculptor Fernando Botero. The artist was a personal friend of Gigi Kracht and a frequent guest of the hotel. It was while they were having breakfast on Baur au Lac’s scenic terrace that the concept for Art in The Park was born. Now, with a firm international following, the event has established itself as a precursor to Art Basel, attracting art connoisseurs from around the world.
Set within the tranquil surroundings of the leafy Baur au Lac Park, the one-of-a-kind outdoor exhibition showcases both emerging and established international artists, many of whom have gone on to become stars in their own right, including Swiss artist Nicolas Party. In fact, there is a specially commissioned painting by Party of the hotel in his signature pastels hanging behind the front desk.
Other Art in The Park alums include William Kentridge, Martin Creed, Rita Ackermann, Joan Miró, Allen Jones, Mel Ramos, Rotraut Klein-Moquay, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Indiana, Jani Leinonen and Marco Perego, many of whom remain close friends of Gigi Kracht.
Sculptures
Concerned with the intimacy of time, the illustration of place, and the exploration of mortality, Sam Falls has created his own formal language by intertwining photography’s core parameters of time and exposure with the elements of nature.
Working largely outdoors with vernacular materials and nature as a site-specific subject, Falls abandons mechanical reproduction in favour of a more symbiotic relationship between subject and object. In doing so, he bridges the gap between photography, sculpture, and painting, as well as the divide between the artist, the object, and the viewer.
Falls will be showcasing the following two pieces during Art in The Park:
- A large outdoor pavilion made of gemstone terrazzo and steel (2015): Untitled (Healing pavilion: calm and balance, peaceful sleep, soothes frayed nerves, endocrine system healing, mental organisation, stress relief, patience, helps kidney function and fatigue, writer’s block and truthfulness, overcoming fear, and unconditional love, respectively to stones below)
- A large square structure constructed from ceramic I-beams entitled Room (2019)
Jean-Marie Appriou’s sculptures evoke archaic forms and are inspired by contemporary, as well as mythological and futuristic, worlds. Often working with aluminium and bronze, he pushes the creative boundaries of these materials through experimental finishes and by incorporating elements such as blown glass.
By alluding to familiar forms, whether animal or human and using a unique, almost alchemical approach to his source material, Appriou has created his very own mythology.
Appriou will be showcasing a series of the following nine sculptures at Art in The Park:
- Fire on the Sea (2020). Patinated aluminium, glass
- Acid Saliva I (2018). Aluminium, glass
- Mirage (Erg Chebbi) (2018). Aluminium
- Cypress (Vessel) (2018). Cast aluminium
- Cypress (Rock) (2018). Cast aluminium
- Pân (2018). Cast aluminium
- Le joueur de flûte (2018). Cast aluminium
- Ama pioka (2021). Patinated bronze
- Ama tali (2021). Patinated bronze
In his sculptures and collages, Valentin Carron imitates traditional handicrafts and unknown artworks, as well as stereotypical modern and everyday forms. By appropriating these objects and styles, he challenges the concepts of originality, authenticity, and identity in the globalised world.
He reformulates traditional handicrafts, mainly from his Swiss homeland, by substituting natural materials like wood for synthetic ones, or conversely, he commissions well-trained artisans to create precious works that imitate cheap industrial articles.
Carron will be exhibiting the following four pieces at Art in The Park:
- Adult and Child (2023). Painted aluminium
- Ciao n°3 (2012). Piaggio Ciao restored
- Ciao n°7 (2013). Ciao Piaggio restored
- Ciao n°9 (2013). Ciao Piaggio restored
Mark Handforth’s work is centred around the sculptural vocabulary of urban areas and familiar elements of day-to-day life (traffic signs, streetlamps, motor scooters, truck wheels, hydrants, neon tubes or candles). He adapts them by either remodelling them or by replicating them on an often considerably larger scale, which, in many cases, creates uncertainty as to whether the pieces are ready-made or not. This is irrelevant: Handforth does not pursue any documentary interests; rather than wanting to reproduce reality, he arranges familiar everyday elements in such a way that they create new points of reference.
Handforth will also be showcasing a piece entitled “Seal,” a cast bronze sculpture featuring an internal steel structure set on a concrete plinth.
Paintings
New paintings by Zurich resident Louise Gagliardi will be displayed inside the hotel. Her works act as reflections – both of the artist and the viewer – and explore the rapid acceleration of technology in our visualised and socialised worlds.
This new series of works, entitled Reunion, has been specially created for Baur au Lac’s Salon I and II. The liminal quality of hotels and conference rooms is a recurring theme in the artist’s work. These spaces are brought to life by the people and interactions that inhabit them for a short period. Each space transforms completely with each visitor, returning to a dormant, neutral space between them. By creating trompe-l’oeils that directly mirror the French doors in the room, the artist offers windows onto other fictional moments.
The title, Reunion, evokes a gathering with people with whom one has a past history. Reunions can evoke a wide range of emotions, from joyful to dreadful.
While the openings depicted in the paintings are somewhat realistic, they reveal surreal spaces that are sometimes vertiginously infinite.
Art and Design at Baur au Lac
Incredible art and design are very much part of the DNA of Baur au Lac, reflecting true Swiss craftsmanship throughout the public areas and the 119 guest rooms and suites. Gigi Kracht handpicked many of the pieces through her close connections with the art world, as well as her relationships with the artists. Highlights include bespoke pieces from US-born Rashid Johnson and Brooklyn-based Matthew Day Jackson, located in Baur’s Brasserie. The walls of the guest rooms are also adorned with lithographs by Le Corbusier and photographs by Alberto Giacometti and René Groebli.
Art In The Park runs from June 16th to July 23rd, 2025, and is open daily in Baur au Lac Park. Entry to the exhibition is complimentary for hotel guests. External visitors are able to access the exhibition following a drinking or dining experience in one of the hotel’s bars and restaurants.
A stay at the Baur au Lac is priced from CHF 695 (approx. £623) per night, based on two adults sharing a Deluxe Double room on a room-only basis. More information is available at www.bauraulac.ch/en/.
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