Ilaria Vinci

Ilaria Vinci interrogates the ways that fantasies are constructed as mirrors of reality; both those that decode and reveal, as well as those that mask and distort. At the heart of her practice, which encompasses sculpture, installation, drawing, and collaborative performance, is an interest in the powers of visual entertainment and how they might be harnessed away from capital and toward an egalitarian art. With a sustained interest in cultural themes that persist across time, she examines how these motifs shift stylistically while retaining their core metaphorical functions. Sci-fi tropes, for instance, imply humanity’s survival in the future, while fairytales evoke a time when humans and nature’s magic were deeply intertwined. By distilling visual themes into a few essential components of storytelling—a character, an object, a fragment of a setting, or a clue—Vinci positions the viewer as a co-author in the process of meaning-making. This approach challenges the notion of fictional worlds as mere escapism, framing them instead as critical tools for navigating and negotiating contemporary realities.

Ilaria Vinci (b. 1991, Cisternino, Italy) lives and works in Zurich since 2018. She completed her BFA at Brera Academy, Milan and her MFA at ÉCAL, Lausanne in 2017. Selected solo and two-person exhibitions include ‘INTROVERSE’, Alice Amati, London, UK (2025); ‘Fantasy Students’, Berufsschule Bülach, CH (2023); Duo presentation with Martin Bonnaz, All Stars, Art Genève, CH (2023); ‘Phoenix Philosophy Café’, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, CH (2022-2023); ‘Iris IV - Our Last Best Hope’, Plymouth Rock, Zurich, CH (2021); ‘Iris IV - Mind Gamer’, Longtang, Zurich, CH (2021 -2022); ‘A Great Cosmic Joke with no Punchline’, Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen, CH (2021); and ‘Sunday Was Already Today’, with Leila Niederberger, WallRiss, Fribourg, CH (2021). Her work has been included in group exhibitions internationally at Capitain Petzel, Berlin, DE (2026); Bechtler Foundation, Uster, CH (2025); Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, CH (2024); Kunsthalle Zurich, Zurich, CH (2023); Museion, Bolzano, IT (2023); Le Commun, Geneva, CH (2023); MACRO Museum, Rome, IT (2022); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, IT (2021) and Weiss Falk Base, CH (2020) amongst others.
Vinci is a finalist for the Prix Mobilière 2026 (CH). In 2023, she was shortlisted for the Swiss Art Award, Basel (CH) and in 2018 she won the Menabrea Art Prize, selected by Cura Magazine. Vinci’s work is included in the Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (IT), and the institutional collections of Kunstsammlung Kanton Zürich (CH) and Kunstsammlung der Stadt Zürich (CH). Her work has been featured in Il Giornale dell’Arte, il Corriere della Sera, RaiNews, Flash Art, VOGUE Italia, Provence Magazine and Mousse Magazine amongst others.