ZURICH.- Monster Chetwynd created the first commission for the Garten of Art at the Kunsthaus Zürich: a massive, sculpted head that blends Bomarzo, science fiction and the folly tradition. Inside it is a climbing frame which invites children and adults to explore actively. The work is now open to the public, with free admission.

If anyone deserves to install a colossal head in the garden at the Kunsthaus Zürich, it is surely Monster Chetwynd. The British artist (b. 1973 in London, lives and works in Zurich) is known for her humorous radicalism, love of the absurd, and profound sense of fun. Her new work is the first commission for the Garden of Art of the Chipperfield building: a walk-through sculpture that looks like something from a surreal dream – playful, monumental and disconcertingly open. This site-specific artwork transforms the green space designed by David Chipperfield into a genuine art garden.

Chetwynd combines historical allusions with popular culture, and performative energy with feminist strategy. More than eight metres in height, the oversized head in the garden is intended to encourage contemplation rather than commemoration: it is a place to experience, play and question concepts of scale. The sculpture – inspired by grotesque garden figures from the 16th century and the science fiction visions of the 1970s – welcomes visitors of all ages, and is especially sure to captivate the youngest.

A SCULPTURE THAT IS BOTH DISCONCERTING AND PLAYFUL

The idea of the folly – the traditional style of seemingly purposeless decorative building beloved of English garden designers – is central to this work. Chetwynd takes this historical concept and translates it into a contemporary sculpture that is both unsettling and playful. Follies were created as an expression of aesthetic freedom and fanciful escapism. They often took the form of exotic temples, towers, artificial ruins or grottoes: architectural whimsies that served no practical purpose but were made to be eye-catching.

At first glance, Chetwynd’s sculpture appears to operate in the same way: it has no functional use in the conventional sense, but it generates meaning through its presence, form and mysteriousness. At the same time, it adds a participatory dimension to the classical folly: visitors can walk inside it, experience it and use it actively. It thus becomes an invitation for the body and mind to embrace that which cannot be fully decoded or simply consumed. Reminiscent of a film prop from another world, it is at the same time deeply rooted in art history – notably the garden at Bomarzo which is its primary source of inspiration.

Bomarzo, also known as the ‘Sacro Bosco’ or ‘Park of the Monsters’, was created by Pier Francesco Orsini in the 16th century as a bold counterpoint to the classical Renaissance garden. Venturing along enchanted pathways between moss- covered stone sculptures, visitors encounter faces, fighting animals, mythological beasts – and monumental heads with gaping mouths that seem ready to swallow them up. ‘I’ve visited Bomarzo many times’, says Monster Chetwynd. ‘When I was a teenager, you could still go right up to the sculptures – touch them, climb on them. There was no supervision. Just the huge heads looking at you.’ Although today much of the site is inaccessible, the magic remains.

ART FOR THE SENSES

This fascination with the monstrous, playful and overwhelming runs right through Chetwynd’s work. Frequently, heads are her artistic challenge. ‘I’ve always wanted to make a big head and live inside it. I don’t know why’, she says. ‘I think I just have a natural liking for big, colossal heads.’ The artist developed a keen interest in colossal sculptures and fragmented monuments from Antiquity while studying anthropology. To implement her project at the Kunsthaus, she teamed up with architects and engineers including the startup Contouro stemming from ETH Zurich, associated with Digital Building Technologies chair. The project was curated by Raphael Gygax.

In addition to Bomarzo, another key source of inspiration was John Boorman’s 1974 film ‘Zardoz’, a surreal dystopia in which a stone idol travels through a divided world. For Chetwynd, though, quoting the image also has the potential to subvert: ‘I see it as a way of undermining patriarchal images of power – by the very act of transposing them into the grotesque.’ The feminist impulse spurs her to recode the monumental, converting something menacing into an accessible site for experiences. A gigantic climbing frame within invites both children and adults to explore the head physically – as a sculpture, experiential environment and conceptual figure. The result is an artwork that appeals to the senses and at the same time invites visitors to reflect and linger.

With this colossal intervention, Monster Chetwynd points the way towards new forms of garden art but also transforms the public space into a ludic utopia, prompting visitors both to contemplate and to climb.