GSH Contemporary and Sutton Tower are proud to announce SUTTON 78, an exhibition that explores the relationship between art and architecture through site-specific installations in a penthouse on the 78th floor - in the midst of Manhattan’s iconic skyline.
MAY - SEPTEMBER 2025
SUTTON 78
The exhibition explores the relationship between art and architecture through site-specific installations that respond directly to their surroundings. By presenting works within the architectural layout of lived experience, the project fosters an intimate encounter with the pieces, inviting the artists to consider the spatial and emotional topography of the site. In dialogue with the architectural framework from Sutton Tower, the works thus unfold as immersive encounters, emphasizing the experience of space alongside the act of viewing.
MEET THE ARTISTS
Kimsooja, To Breathe, Centre Pompidou Metz, France, 2015. Photo by Jaeho Chong.
KIMSOOJA
SOUTH KOREAN (1957)
Kimsooja, based in Seoul, is an international conceptual artist whose practice explores the totality of life and art, transcending distinctions of medium and form through works of painting, by sewing, installation, performance, video, light and sound. In the 1980’s, she began to experiment with alternative modes of expression while contemplating the two-dimensional structure of painting, leading to a series of sewing works that revealed a dualistic order of vertical and horizontal as the foundation of the world, thus expanding the object of her artistic inquiry from the material to the non-material. Kimsooja’s resolute pursuit of the latter and adoption of “non-doing, non-making” as an aesthetic framework inform her longstanding engagement with various media and methodologies, driving her persistent questioning of art and humanity in conceptual, contemplative aesthetics and humanism.
Kimsooja, Bottari (2005), exhibition view, Documenta 14: ANTIDORON – The EMST Collection, Documenta 14, Fridericianum, Kassel, 2017. Photo by Jasper Kettner.
Her work has been subject of numerous solo exhibitions in major international museums as well as site-specific installations, for example at Bourse de Commerce, Paris (2024), Humboldt Forum (2024), Cisternerne/ Frederiksbergmuseerne (2023), Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Metz (2022), WanasKonst (2020), Traversées/Kimsooja in Poitiers (2019), Peabody Essex Museum (2019), Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Chapel (2019), KunstmuseumLiechtenstein (2017), Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2015), Centre Pompidou Metz (2015), Crystal Palace of Reina Sofia Museum (2006), MAC Lyon (2003), PAC Milan (2003), EMST, Athens (2005), Kunstpalast Dusseldorf (2004), Kunsthalle Wien (2002), Kunsthalle Bern (2001) and MoMA PS1 (2001). She has been part of numerous biennials and triennials like BienalSUR (2021, 2023), Documenta14 (2017), Venice Biennale (2013, 2007, 2005, 2001, 1999), Gwangju Biennale (2012, 2000, 1995), Lyon biennale (2000), Sao Paulo Biennale (1998), Istanbul Biennale (1997), and Manifesta 1 (1996).
FRANCISCO SIERRA
SWISS / CHILEAN (1977)
Installation View of Francisco Sierra, Guppy (2024), at Art Basel Unlimited: Winner of the Art Basel Unlimited People’s Pick Award. Courtesy the Artist and Von Bartha, Basel/Copenhagen.
Francisco Sierra is a contemporary Swiss artist known for his hyperrealistic paintings that often incorporate surreal and humorous elements. His work blends technical mastery with imaginative and playful narratives, creating thought-provoking compositions that challenge viewers’ perceptions of reality. Sierra frequently draws inspiration from everyday objects and scenes, transforming them into dreamlike or absurd scenarios. He has exhibited widely in Europe and beyond, earning recognition for his ability to combine precision with wit in his artistic practice.
A self-taught visual artist, he studied music in Switzerland and the Netherlands (1998–2003). His work has been exhibited internationally, with solo shows a.o. at Kunstmuseum Solothurn (“Alfombra”, upcoming 2025), Unlimited by Art Basel (“Guppy”, 2024), Kunsthalle Appenzell, and von Bartha, Basel and Copenhagen. He has participated in major group exhibitions at Kunsthalle St. Gallen, MACRO Rome, and Aargauer Kunsthaus. Sierra has received numerous awards, including the Swiss Art Award, the Unlimited People’s Pick at Art Basel (2024), and the Manor Art Prize St. Gallen (2013). His works are held in many Institutional and corporate collections, His practice is documented in monographs including “Lunar Invasion” (2021) and “Francisco Sierra” (2013) and numerous publications.
Francisco Sierra, Guppy (2024). Courtesy the Artist and Von Bartha, Basel/Copenhagen
ZOË BUCKMAN
BRITISH (1985)
Zoë Buckman is a British, Jewish multi-disciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, textiles, lens-based media, ceramics, neon, and painting, exploring themes of Intersectional Feminism, mortality, and equality. Working across different media, Buckman weaves personal narrative with collective experience: creating a dialogue between materials and meaning.
Installation view of Zoë Buckman, Every Curve (2016), Papillon Gallery
Zoë Buckman is a British artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Buckman studied at the International Center of Photography (ICP), andwas awarded various Grants (like Art Matters Grant, 2017 or The Art and Social Impact Award, 2020). The artist’s work is included in permanent collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art (NYC), The National Portrait Gallery (London), or The Institute of Contemporary Art (Miami), amongst others. Notable solo shows have included TENDED at Lysles & King NYC, BLODDWORK at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery London, and more. Buckman was included in international group shows at institutions such as The National Portrait Museum, SF Moma, The Broad Museum, or the Museum of Art & Design, NYC
Zoë Buckman, Gully Flower (2022)
RAPHAEL HEFTI
SWISS (1978)
Swiss artist Raphael Hefti’s experimental sculptures stem from his fascination with industrial and post-industrial processes, which he reclaims, subverts, and transforms with near-alchemical precision. Collaborating closely with industries and specialists, he exposes the hidden material truths in conventional techniques, balancing between desecration and reverence. His works blur the lines between nature and industry, abstraction and objectivity, as he pushes materials beyond their intended limits to reveal raw beauty in the unexpected. Though shaped by unpredictable processes, they remain firmly guided by his vision—proof that sometimes, with enough persistence, even stubborn metal can be persuaded to see reason.
Raphael Hefti, Subtraction as Addition (2016)
Installation View of Raphael Hefti, Message Not Sent (2020), at the Kunsthaus Zürich
Raphael Hefti, born in 1978, grew up in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. He lives and works in Paris and Zurich. After training as an electronics technician, he studied at ECAL in Lausanne and later at the Slade School of Fine Art at UCL in London, where he earned his master’s degree. He has held solo exhibitions at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles, Kunsthalle Basel, Nottingham Contemporary, CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, and Camden Art Centre in London.
VICTORIA HOLDT
SWISS (1992)
Victoria Holdt, Simmering Shields (2024), site-specific installation at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau. Photo by Ullmann Photography.
Victoria Holdt lives and works in Basel. She studied Visual Arts at HEAD in Geneva (CH) before completing a Master’s in Film at Hochschule Luzern (CH) and Media Arts at KASK in Ghent (BE). Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at Kunstmuseum Olten, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Kunsthalle Langenthal, and Kunsthaus Aarau. As a member of the collective and artist-run space Palazzina, she has been awarded the KulturpreisBaselland and has received work and research grants from Aargauer Kuratorium, along with a residency at Paris Cité Internationale des Arts.
Through video, sculpture, and sound, Holdt creates immersive installations with atmospheres where contradictions coexist: familiarity and the uncanny, humor and alienation, analog and technological. The artist is particularly interest in cycles, behaviors, and patterns – both natural and constructed. By drawing connections between the micro and macro scales of existence, her work blurs boundaries, revealing tensions and proposing alternative perspectives on our embodied and emotional realities.
Installation View of Victoria Holdt, Lilies (2024), at Voltage Art Space, Basel. Photo by Tzlatko Mićić.