From Oz to Zardoz: Imagination, Monument, and Play by Monster Chetwynd
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 7
Behind the new building of the Kunsthaus Zürich stands an unusual presence: a colossal, open-mouthed head emerging from the ground. The sculpture, titled Zardoz, was created by Monster Chetwynd and installed in 2025 in the museum’s outdoor Garden of Art. At first glance its grotesque surrealism appears almost absurd. At the second glance – too.
Zardoz is a monstrous face scaled to architectural proportions. More than eight metres tall, the sculpture functions simultaneously as artwork, structure, and environment.
Inside the head, a climbing framework allows visitors, especially children, to move through the interior. This participatory dimension is characteristic of Chetwynd’s practice, which frequently blurs the boundaries between sculpture, performance, and theatrical staging. Her work often incorporates humour, fantasy, and references to popular culture, inviting viewers into imaginative worlds rather than presenting closed, static objects.
The realization of Zardoz required collaboration across artistic and technical disciplines. The project was developed within the institutional framework of the Kunsthaus under the leadership of director Ann Demeester and curated by Raphael Gygax, who also organized Chetwynd’s exhibition at the museum. The sculpture therefore functions both as an independent public artwork and as an extension of the artist’s broader exhibition program at Kunsthaus, that is already closed by the moment this essay is published.
Transforming Chetwynd’s imaginative concept into a buildable structure required architectural expertise. Architects Andrei Jipa and Angela Yoo collaborated on the project through their ETH Zurich spin-off company Contouro. Their role was to translate the original small-scale model into a monumental construction using digital design tools and advanced fabrication techniques.
The process began with a modest clay maquette created by Chetwynd, measuring roughly thirty centimetres in height. Contouro scanned the original model with a laser scanner and converted it into a digital file used to design the structure. Through this process, the figure was transformed into a huge sculpture made of timber, steel, and concrete. Rather than smoothing the form into a perfect geometric structure, the enlargement process kept the expressive marks of the sculpted clay. As a result, the enormous head appears strangely organic, as if a mythological creature had surfaced in the museum garden, revealing the collaborative relationship between artistic imagination and technological design.
The title Zardoz opens up layers of meaning. It references the cult science-fiction film Zardoz¹ directed by John Boorman. In the film, a giant floating stone head appears as a godlike authority to a group of warriors in a post-apocalyptic world, distributing weapons and controlling them through religious spectacle. Eventually it is revealed that this “god” is merely a technological illusion created by an elite group of humans.
The name itself derives from the phrase “Wizard of Oz,” emphasising the idea of hidden power behind a theatrical façade. By referencing this film, Chetwynd’s sculpture playfully evokes the image of a monumental head that commands attention while simultaneously undermining the authority such monuments traditionally represent.
Installed outdoors and freely accessible to the public, full of children’s laughter in the daytime and eerily silent under the full moon, as I first encountered it, Zardoz transforms the museum garden into a space where art can be experienced on a wholly imaginative level. And, like any act of imagination, it is fleeting. Take the time to visit before 2027 and witness the convergence of sculpture, storytelling, and public space.
Text by Olena Iegorova
Address:
Chipperfield‑Bau,
Garden of ArtHeimplatz 5
8001 Zürich
Switzerland
Commissioned by:
Kunsthaus Zürich
First commissioned work for its Garden of Art, part of the “Art for All” programme
Notes:
Zardoz is a 1974 science‑fantasy film written, produced, and directed by John Boorman, starring Sean Connery. Set in a dystopian future (the year 2293), the film presents a post‑apocalyptic society in which a giant flying stone head called "Zardoz" appears as a god to a group of warriors who worship it and do its bidding. The title and concept of Zardoz are directly inspired by The Wizard of Oz , to be precise, the name Zardoz is a contraction of "Wizard of Oz". In the film, the protagonist Zed eventually discovers that the head is not a true deity but a construct created by the ruling elite to manipulate the population, echoing the Wizard of Oz story in which the “great wizard” is ultimately revealed to be an ordinary man behind a curtain.
This layered reference grounds the film’s critique of authority and illusion, as themes that resonate with the surreal and monumental imagery of the giant head itself and which help explain why Monster Chetwynd chose "Zardoz" as the title and conceptual anchor for her sculpture.
