ETH start-up helps realise walk-in concrete ‘monster head’
A striking new public artwork has been unveiled at the Kunsthaus Zürich, where visitors can now walk inside an eight-metre-high concrete and timber sculpture — a monumental head created by British artist Monster Chetwynd in collaboration with ETH Zurich architects.
The project, titled Zardoz, was engineered with support from Contouro, a start-up founded by ETH researchers Andrei Jipa and Angela Yoo, who applied advanced construction and material technologies developed through ETH’s Digital Building Technologies research group.
The hybrid structure — part art installation, part architectural folly — combines wood, steel and concrete to create a climbable, immersive environment inspired by the surreal forms of 16th-century Italian garden sculptures and the 1970s science-fiction film Zardoz.
Monster Chetwynd, known for her playful and subversive large-scale works, described the project as “a way of undermining patriarchal images of power – by the very act of transposing them into the grotesque.”
The work continues the artist’s long-standing interest in participatory spaces and monumental form. Inside, a climbing frame invites both children and adults to explore the sculpture as a space for play, contemplation, and physical engagement.
Curated by Raphael Gygax, the project marks the first major commission for the Kunsthaus Zürich’s Garden of Art and was realised in partnership with Swiss Sculpture Exhibitions (SPA), supported by the Hans Imholz Foundation and other cultural sponsors.
For the architects, the project offered an opportunity to merge digital fabrication methods with traditional craftsmanship. “Zardoz demonstrates how computational design and material innovation can open new possibilities in art and architecture,” said Contouro co-founder Andrei Jipa.
The installation will remain on view at the Kunsthaus Zürich until 2027 and is freely accessible to the public.
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