Oz Oderbolz Born 1988 in Lucerne Based in Zurich; currently in residence at Istituto Svizzero, Rome

Oz’s practice brings sculpture, installation, performance and sound into close relation with curatorial and collaborative work. They approach history-writing as a queer, intersectional practice, examining how traditions are carried through objects and collective memory, and how they might be continued differently. This involves working with inherited forms of belonging while questioning the authority to define them.

The work begins with objects and materials drawn from labour and domestic or ritual settings. Their uses carry histories of ownership and gender, as well as attachments that exceed their practical purpose. Through material alteration, repetition and deliberate dysfunction, Oz unsettles the relationship between what an object does and what it represents. Excessive care can become a refusal of productivity; a familiar form can invite a use for which it was never intended. These shifts make room for desire within conventions that regulate how bodies behave.

Spatial arrangements are part of this enquiry. The placement of an object can determine who is able to approach or use it, and under what conditions. Oz works with these thresholds in situ, attending to how access is organised and how an intervention might change the terms of participation. Sculptural and performative work develops alongside an interest in oral traditions and rituals, particularly where they shape family relationships and structures of care.

Artistic and curatorial methods meet in the collective processes through which many of the works take form. As co-founder of TOXI in Zurich and initiator of Backroom / Acts of Kindness at Shedhalle Zurich, Oz develops spaces for production and exchange. Sharing resources and sustaining relationships are part of this work. It carries a responsibility to keep the spaces themselves open to negotiation, so that those who use them can also take part in shaping them.

EXHIBITIONS

2026
Crossroad – Home in Motion, Kunsthalle Luzern, Lucerne

La Rada, Locarno

2025
Kissing in My Subaru, Stadtgalerie Bern, Bern

Dishcomfort, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau

It Was All Fields Once, TRACK & CIVA, Brussels

Con lo zucchero in bocca, Istituto Svizzero, Rome

2024
Umbra, inter.pblc, Copenhagen

Basel Social Club, Basel

Country Offside, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel

The Unsettled Arrangement of Embodiment, Friedensgasse 1, Zurich

2023
Zentral! — Förderausstellung Zentralschweiz, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne

Meet Me Half Way, One Gee in Fog × WallStreet, Geneva / Fribourg

Robert Estermann & Oz Oderbolz, Last Tango, Zurich — duo exhibition

2022
Untitled or I Stole My Fathers Belt, Ufficio della notte, Zurich

Lucky Shot, Wynx Club, Zurich — duo exhibition with Jordan Selophane

2021
Mi Casa es su Casa, Urner Werk- und Förderausstellung, Haus für Kunst Uri, Altdorf

Herzliche Grüsse an Alle, TOXI, Zurich Art Weekend, Zurich — duo exhibition with Nemo Bleuer

Piece of Me, Coalmine, Winterthur

GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES

2026–2027
Roma Calling residency, Istituto Svizzero, Rome

2026
Working grant (Arbeitsbeitrag), Canton of Zurich

2025
Artist residency, Pro Helvetia / Ujazdowski, Warsaw

2024
Working grant (Werkbeitrag), Canton of Zurich

2022
Artist residency, UV Studios, Buenos Aires

2015
Working grant, Popkredit, City of Zurich

2014
Touring grant, Popkredit, City of Zurich

2013
Project grant, Popkredit, City of Zurich