al_vista is a student run exhibition space by the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and its Department of Fine Arts. In 2020 Kim Anni Bassen, Aramis Navarro and Lourenço Soares Penaguiao invite artists to show their work in the space, located next to Club Zukunft and Bar 3000 at Langstrasse in Zurich, an area of gentrification and diverse cultural entanglements, visible to passers-by and party-goers. In a promiscuous relationship with window shops, cars and people, al_vista is interested in different artistic practices that engage with the ambiguous character of its place.
History:
At the beginning of 2019, the former take-away counter at Dienerstrasse 33 was gently converted and opened to the street with a large, non-reflective window pane. Thanks to a new window pane, the exhibitions are visible day and night. The project serves as a platform to show the diverse activities of the Department of Fine Arts outside the Toni area and to enable students to try out a curatorial practice. It also highlights the breadth of artistic education at the ZHdK. The direct neighbourhood to the Club Zukunft offers the opportunity to reach a diverse audience and a close cooperation with the Zurich club institution. The curatorial project has annually changing teams of students from the ZHdK.
For their collaborative installation "Kämpfer<3en", Shamiran Istifan and Roman Selim Khereddine transform the al_vista exhibition space into a miniature cockfighting venue. The open pit raises the question where the arena – both literal and metaphorical – starts and where it ends.