Esther Kempf

Esther Kempf

Zurich-based artist Esther Kempf (born 1980 in Bafut, Cameroon) studied fine arts and scenography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, graduating in 2005. Her work engages with the ordinary, circling around everyday occurrences with the aim of altering their function and presence by means of simple but precise interventions.
Kempf has been exhibiting in Switzerland and Europe, among other places at Kunsthaus Aarau, Kunsthaus Langenthal, Helmhaus Zürich, exhibition space W139 in Amsterdam and Institute of Modern Art in Nurnberg, Germany. Kempf received several grants and awards, including grants of the Binz39 Foundation and the City of Zurich, as well as awards of the Kiefer Hablitzel and the Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation. Most recently she participated in the artist-in-residence program FAAP in São Paulo and Oeil de Poisson in Québec City. She teaches art at the architecture department of ETH Zurich.

Fountain no. 2

The bathrooms of the apartments in Block 76 are arranged in the middle of the building without windows and natural light. They dispose of three water-connections each, feeding two sinks and the shower. In apartment No. 2, the tabs are extended and the water is united to form a fountain above the bathtub. The natural material stages a spectacle of movement and sound and thus stands in contrast with the solid, cave-like surrounding.