INTERDISCIPLINARY TALK | Grace Ndiritu & Louise Benson

Interdisciplinary talk with artist Grace Ndiritu and ArtReview Director of Digital Louise Benson

A conversation with British-Kenyan (Maasai Kikuyu) artist Grace Ndiritu, whose practice spans film, painting, textiles, performance and social practice. In her long-term body of work Healing the Museum (2012–present), she introduces non-rational healing methodologies such as shamanism to re-activate the ‘sacredness’ of art spaces. The talk will begin with a short introductory meditation session led by the artist.

Kindy hosted by schwarzescafé / Luma Westbau.

Louise Benson is Director of Digital at ArtReview. She is a trustee of Wysing Arts Centre, and has written widely on art, politics and contemporary culture. Previously she was Deputy Editor at Elephant, and before that Editor-in-Chief of POSTmatter, a magazine about modern life and culture in the digital age. She is interested in exploring what happens at the edges of the art world, seeking out stories from behind the scenes. She is also the co-founder of Scenic Views, an independent interiors magazine focused on overlooked design histories.

Grace Ndiritu is a British-Kenyan (Maasai Kikuyu), visual artist, filmmaker and writer whose artworks are concerned with the transformation of our contemporary world. Ndiritu is a recipient of the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation - Visual Arts Award (2024) and the winner of the Film London Jarman Award 2022. Her films and videos, textiles, photography, performances, paintings and architectural installations have been widely exhibited, most recently in her mid-career survey, Healing The Museum, at SMAK, Ghent in 2023 and Lyon Biennale in 2024. Ndiritu is represented by Kate MacGarry, London.​

___

Initiated in 2018 as the Art + Science Talks, the Zurich Art Weekend Interdisciplinary Talks seek to generate unconventional exchanges between creative thinkers who are active at the highest level of excellence in the arts, humanities, the natural sciences, and public life. Organised on the occasion of ZURICH ART WEEKEND June program and kindly hosted by schwarzescafé / Luma Westbau, we delve into the current conversations celebrating the vastness of interdisciplinary work by leading artists, curators, writers, academics, scientists, and researchers who bridge the gap between these fields. We encourage “out of the box” discussions, shared perspectives, and lively debate.

These Interdisciplinary Talks, moderated by a journalist, curator, or academic, pair internationally acclaimed contemporary artists with leading figures from other fields. They aim to tease out crossovers in research of supposedly opposing disciplines. Alongside our team, the talks have been curated by Daniel Baumann (Director Kunsthalle Zurich 2015-2025), Jacqueline Burckhardt (Art Historian and Editor) and others.

All talks are free and open to the public, with RSVP recommended.

Events will take place at schwarzescafé / Luma Westbau, Löwenbräukunst, Limmatstrasse 270, 8005 Zurich.