How Zurich-West is emerging as the trendy art centre in Switzerland

Think of Zurich and most of us conjure up images of pristine, orderly streets, expensive watches, and some of the world’s most powerful banks. But there’s a newer, more unruly, side to the city. Here, colourful graffiti art emblazons walls, stacked up sea containers house hip retail spaces, and restaurants and cafes spill out from under old railway arches. Ramshackle yards round the back of artists’ studios have become public art spaces with installations that show inspiration from cultures around the world. 

This is Zurich-West, or Kreis 5, the old industrial part of the city that sprawls over the western banks of the River Limmat. In recent years, it has transformed from a grim no-go zone of echoing warehouses and seedy nightclubs into the city’s, and the country’s, most lively centre for contemporary art. 

A host of art institutions, museums and studios are now located here, including the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Kunsthalle Zurich, and the LUMA Foundation, as well as major contemporary art galleries, such as Galerie Eva Presenhuber and Hauser & Wirth. Much of the contemporary art scene is focused around the former Löwenbräu brewery, which has been redeveloped and extended into a huge space for the arts. 

Trendy restaurants and bars, and theatre and art spaces have also opened. The area’s artistic revival has earned it the reputation of being Zurich’s epicentre of cool, and rental space in new residential and office towers is in demand. 

Galerie Peter Kilchmann, located next to Prime Tower, which was for a time Switzerland’s tallest building and offers stunning views over Zurich from its rooftop restaurant, has witnessed, and helped to spur, the metamorphosis of District 5.” 

“Zurich-West is now a vibrant and upcoming quarter of the city,” says Annemarie Reichen, director at Galerie Peter Kilchmann, which represents numerous local artists. 

“Many artists, curators and other stakeholders of the local art scene live or hang around this area. It’s a very multi-ethnic part of the city and therefore inspiring for artists, curators and gallerists alike. It has the feel and vibe of a big European city, in spite of Zurich not being that big.”

Swiss artist Marc Bauer, whose pared down, small-scale pencil drawings stand in contrast to much of today’s art that tends to be bold both in size and high in drama, lectures at the prestigious Zurich University of the Arts (also known as ZHdK) in Zurich-West.