The Zurich-based investment house Vontobel is committed to contemporary photo-based art and presents works from its own collection at all national and international company locations. Currently, some important works are attracting attention in New York.

Under the direction of Georgina Casparis, curator of Art Vontobel, the financial institution brought 20 works from the collection in Zurich to New York in mid-February, where they were installed in eight rooms and corridors.


Maya Rochat's work at Vontobel's Geneva site (Image: Conradin Frei)

These are works by Swiss artists such as Shirana Shahbazi, Sebastian Stadler and Richard Mosse, Pieter Hugo and Julius von Bismarck and other artists who live in New York or have a personal connection to the city and enable Vontobel to build a cultural bridge between the various locations.

Art as Catalyst 

According to Casparis, Vontobel's commitment to art goes far beyond mere presentation. Art serves as a catalyst for discussion and learning opportunities within the company.

With a focus on young contemporary, photo-based art, the collection currently includes around 370 works, including the works of emerging artists such as Maya Rochat, Julien Charrier, Noemie Goudal, Emmanuel van der Auwera, Sara Cwynar, Pixy Liao, Nicolas Polli and Maria Mavropoulou, in combination with established great artists such as Barbara Probst, Carlos Garaicoa, Wolfgang Tillmans, Paul Graham, Alec Soth oder Daniele Buetti, to name but a few.

The works of art can be found at Vontobel's various locations in the entrance area, in the customer area, in the corridors and in the dining rooms.

Art Creates Dialog


Video by Alain Butler, from the exhibition «Beyond Photography», Vontobel Zurich (Image: Anja Wurm)

For around the past year, there has been a public exhibition space at the company's headquarters in Zurich, where the works from the collection are also accessible to external people. Among other things, artist talks or panel discussions on current art topics (NFT as an art form, digital art, AI art) will also take place here.

«Our customers really appreciate walking through our exhibitions. Also, we show new photographic formats. For example, we now have a non-fungible token (NFT) and AI-generated works in the collection. These always lead to exciting conversations», explains Casparis in an interview with finews.art.

Art Education for Employees

With formats such as «Art Crawl» or «Lunch & Learn», where employees can acquire art knowledge in a relaxed atmosphere, as well as special guided tours for clients and employees, Vontobel promotes dialogue about art.


Art at the Vontobel location in New York, work by Julius von Bismarck (Image: Georgina Casparis)

Some of these formats are now also being made available in New York to deepen the exchange and understanding of art and to establish it as a topic of conversation among employees and customers.

Vontobel Art Prize

The «A New Gaze» art prize is another component of Vontobel's efforts to support and promote contemporary photo-based photography. By rewarding young talents and providing them with a platform, the company contributes to the development of new perspectives and to the enrichment of the understanding of art.

For the First Time Two Artists 

For «A New Gaze 4», the fourth edition of the prize, for the first time two artists were awarded the prize: Emidio Battipaglia (born 1984 in Italy, lives and works in Lausanne) and Augustin Lignier (born 1995 in France, lives and works in Paris). 

With their concept, they prevailed among 70 artists and convinced the jury with their experimental approach to photography and the implementation of the theme of «community». The prize is endowed with 20'000 Swiss francs. It is planned that the project of the two artists will be shown this year in the form of a public exhibition at Vontobel Zurich, as was further reported by Casparis.