The Night That Never Ended

This artwork should be placed somewhere casually: On a sideboard, a Hi-Fi-speaker, or a club table. As if someone had merely forgotten to clear away the tumbler, that is how it appears, bearing an ice cube that will never melt. There is a story that is being told, a story about the passing of time. The drink has been finished (how fast a drink is polished off…). The ice cube is still left, it must have just happened. We don’t know what exactly came to pass. Who drank the whiskey, or cognac or gin? Where is the person? Was she alone? What is he doing now? Was the drink meant as a nightcap? An invigoration? Did the drink help to make an important decision? This is how it appears now, the glass, and in it a cube of frozen ice, that should actually melt, slowly, ever so slowly, but will not: As if someone had pressed the stop button, and halted time. The artwork tells not only of the passing of time, but presents a mysterious story as well. Is it a thriller? A tragedy? A comedy? That is why the work is titled as it is: “The Night that never ended”. Text: Max Küng / Translation: Rebecka Domig







Zilla Leutenegger (*1968, Switzerland) is known for her video installations and concentrated works on paper. Focusing on universal themes, including architecture, domesticity, fantasy and childhood she is not concerned with imposing an overarching plan or concept. Leutenegger often uses her own body as working material, drawing and videotaping this female protagonist, who happens to be herself. Her artistic practice is driven a curiosity of expanding the medium of drawing into three dimensional space and going beyond realism by creating works that trigger surprise in the viewer.

1968 Born in Switzerland
Lives in Zurich, Switzerland

EDUCATION
1985–88 Business School in Chur
1995–99 School of Visual Arts, Zurich
1997–99 Assistant Section Video, ETH Architecture, Zurich

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014 “Wunder & Plunder”, Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf, Switzerland, cur. Anna Wesle, March 28 – Aug. 31
2013 “13 Räume”, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, cur. Fritz Emslander, Sept. 29
“Selected drawings”, Galerie Stampa, Basel, Switzerland, May 28 – July 27
2012 “Umlaufbahn, Gast Zilla Leutenegger”, Stiftung Trudi Demut und Otto Müller, Kunsthalle im alten Zürcher
Güterbahnhof, Zurich, Switzerland, May 23 – Aug. 2013
2011 “When yesterday the sea was flat”, The Heder Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 7 – Oct. 22
“Rock the chair”, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, Sept. 1 – Oct. 22
“Flat – Ein Leporello”, Galerie Stampa, Basel, Switzerland, May 31 – Aug. 13
“More than this”, Weserburg, Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany, cur. Ingo Clauss, Apr. 17 – Aug. 7
2010 “Ringkamp”, SAM – Art Masters, St. Moritz, (in collaboration with Bank Bär, Zurich), Switzerland, Aug. 24 – Sept. 2
“Rocksie”, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, US, March 25 – May 1
Salon du Dessin Contemporain, Carousel du Louvre, Paris, France, March 25 – March 28
“Off the wall”, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, Jan. 15 – March 6
2009 “Drum set”, Art Kabinett, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach, Dec. 3 – Dec. 6
2008 “Zilla und das 7. Zimmer”, Kartause Ittingen Kunstmuseum des Kantons Thurgau, Warth, Switzerland, cur.
Dorothee Messmer, Sept. 7 – Dec. 14
“Bienvenue!”, Centre dʼArt Passerelle, Brest, France, cur. Ulrike Kremeier, May 16 – July 26
2007 “Meet me in the Library (9 P.M.)”, CCA Center for Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel, cur. Neta Gal- Azmon,
Sept. 9 – Oct. 31, ex.cat. (booklet)
“Avec le temps”, Galerie Stampa, Basel, Switzerland, Aug. 31 – Oct. 27
“Münchner Wohnung – Kitchen and Living Room ZKMax”, Munich, Germany, cur. Diana Ebster, March 8 – Apr. 29
2006 “Prada, torch & anderes”, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 25 – Oct. 7
“Zilla Leutenegger”, Ursula Blickle Videolounge, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria, cur. Angela Stief,
July 10 – Aug. 31
“Wichtiger Besuch”, Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken, Germany, Apr. 21 – June 25, ex.cat.
“Man läuft Gefahr ein bisschen zu weinen, wenn man sich hat zähmen lassen”, Galerie Kamm,
Berlin, Germany, March 10 – Apr. 22
2005 “The Smokers”, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Sept. 1 – Oct. 6
“Honey”, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, US, May 5 – June 4
2004 “Wishful Thinking”, Fundació “La Caixa”, Sala Montcada, Barcelona, Spain, cur. Fabienne Fulcherie &
Marti Manen, Dec. 22 – Feb. 13
“Her mind a million miles away”, Vacio 9, Madrid, Spain, Dec. 1 – Jan. 11
“Zilla Leutenegger”, Manor-Kunstpreis, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur, Switzerland, Sept. 24 – Oct. 31, ex.cat.
“How can we lose when we're so sincere?”, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, March 20 – May 8
2003 “Der Mond ist mein Freund”, Halle für Kunst Lüneburg eV, Luneburg, Germany, Nov. 27 – Jan 11 Galerie Stampa,
Basel, Switzerland, Aug. 30 – Nov. 8
“Ideal Idaho”, Galerie Joanna Kamm, Berlin, Germany, June 7 – July 26
“If I am not here, Iʼm over there”, FACT, Centre Gallery Two, Liverpool, UK cur. C. Andersson, May 9 – June 22
“Snow in April”, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, US, Apr. 10 –
“Freundinnen im Wohnzimmer”, Emanuel Tschumi, Basel, Switzerland, March 7/8 – end of March, ex.cat.
2002 “In Verso”, Artopia, Rita and Remo Urso, Milano, Italy, cur. Charlotte Mailler, Dec. 10 – Feb. 8
“Löwenzahn”, Galerie Eugen Lendl, Graz, Austria, cur. Sabine Schaschl, Oct. 26 – Nov. 24
“Z - La Piccola Ombra”, Studio Massimo de Carlo, Milano, Italy, Oct.18 – 26
“But it will never end”, Taché-Lévy Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, Apr. 19 – May 25
“Oh mein Papa”, Stadtgalerie, Bern, Switzerland, March 22 – May 4
“Itʻll end in tears”, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, Jan. 19 – March 22
2001 “30 Minuten vor Abfahrt”, c/o Peter Gorschlüter, Karlsruhe, Germany, Nov. 10 – Dec. 22
“Before you go I want to show you something“ Galerie Zürcher, Paris, France, Oct. 20 – Nov. 28
“Dream as drawing“ Galerie Cato Jans, Hamburg, Germany, Oct. 11 – Dec. 22
“Zilla Leutenegger (meine nächste arbeit wird mit einem hund sein) – Vivement 2002! 5e
“Episode”, Mamco Musée dʻArt Modern et Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland, May 31 – Sept. 9, ex.cat.
“Welcome in my dress - pour elise & tracey”, Podewil, Berlin, Germany, May 25 – June 23
“Zeichnungsvideo”, Galerie Stampa, Basel, Switzerland, March 27 – May 19
2000 Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 26 – Sept. 30
Nairs, art in engiadina bassa, Scuol, Switzerland, June 3 – July 2
1998 “Zierp, zierp”, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Switzerland, Oct. 10 – Nov. 14
Sandwichstore Bleicherweg, Zurich, Switzerland
Galerie Ars Futura, Zurich, Switzerland
1997 Galerie HOTEL, Zurich, Switzerland
1996 “Stills”, Kunstautomat, Zurich, Switzerland