BIOGRAPHY
Aurèle Ferrier is a visual artist who works with film. His practice is defined by a pared-down aesthetic and a documentary sensibility, exploring the complex interplay between natural and built environments. He investigates how urbanization and human interventions alter spatial experience, reshaping landscapes, cities, and the ways we inhabit them. His works invite contemplative reflection on the physical and psychological dimensions of these transformations – and how they shape our perception of constructed space.
His films and installations have been shown internationally at renowned festivals and institutions including IDFA (Amsterdam), Rencontres Internationales (Paris/Berlin), MACRO (Rome), Image Forum (Tokyo), Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai), Anthology Film Archives (New York), Open City Documentary Festival (London), and the City Museum of Contemporary Art (Hiroshima).

STUDIES
2014  MA Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts
2004  BA Theatre, Leading Artist, Zurich University of the Arts
2003  Exchange Program, Experimental Theatre Wing, Tisch School, New York University

SELECTED AWARDS AND GRANTS
2021  Fine Arts Grant, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Zurich
2021  Weitblick – trailer Ruhr Prize, Blicke Filmfestival des Ruhrgebiet, Bochum
2021  Fine Arts Grant, Freiraumstipendium, Canton of Zurich
2020  First Prize, In Out Festival, Laznia Center of Contemporary Art, Gdansk
2019  Fine Arts Grant, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Zurich
2018  Best Video Artwork, Madatac, Madrid
2018  Formal Innovation Prize, Eurovideo, Vidéographies Int. Video Art Association, Liège
2017  Fine Arts Grant, Canton of Zurich
2017  Winner Swiss Competition, Videoex Int. Experimental Film & Video Festival, Zurich
2016  Grand Jury Award, Best Experimental Short, Slamdance Film Festival, Park City
2016  Fine Arts Grant, Canton of St. Gallen
2016  Fine Arts Grant, UBS Culture Foundation, Zurich
2015  Best Foreign Experimental Film, 24th Berkeley Video and Film Festival, Berkeley

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND MOVING IMAGE FESTIVALS
2023  Night School, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai
2022  Urban Stories, Cinemateca do Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro
2021  Heimspiel, Kunsthaus Glarus
2021  The Original, the Non-place and the Copy, Architecture Film Festival London
2021  Current Situation Exhibition, Laznia Center of Contemporary Art, Gdansk
2021  Internacional de Videoarte, Museo MARCO La Boca, Buenos Aires
2020  Anthropocene’s Interface, Athens Digital Arts Festival, Athens
2020  SF Urban Film Fest, San Francisco
2019  Rencontres Internationales – Contemporary Moving Images, Paris/Berlin
2019  VP Kyoto – Image Forum, Tokyo
2019  NewFilmmakers – Anthology Film Archives, New York
2019  Arquiteturas Film Festival, Lisbon
2019  A Window to the World, City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima
2019  Cairo Video Festival, Cairo
2019  Biennale d’art vidéo et performance /si:n/, Ramallah
2019  Video Program, MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome
2019  Human-Free Earth, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw
2018  Open City Documentary Festival, London
2018  33rd Videoformes – Video Art & Digital Cultures, Clermont-Ferrand
2018  31es Instants Vidéo, Marseille
2018  Eurovideo / Vidéographies, Liège
2018  Alchemy Film & Moving Image Festival, Hawick
2018  25th Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago
2017  30th IDFA – International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
2017  52nd Solothurn Film Festival, Solothurn
2017  Werkschau, Fine Arts Grants of Canton Zurich, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
2017  Fine Arts Grant Exhibition, City of Zurich, Helmhaus, Zurich
2017  Videoex – International Experimental Film & Video Festival, Zurich
2016  Rencontres Internationales – Contemporary Moving Images, Paris/Berlin
2016  Kumu Art Film Festival, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn
2016  Infrastructures (solo), Centre de Création en Arts Médiatiques, Québec
2015  Arkipel – International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, Jakarta

COLLECTIONS
Collection Bosshard, Rapperswil-Jona
Collection Canton St.Gallen
Credit Suisse Art Collection, Zurich

TALKS, TEACHING & JURY WORK
2025  Jury board, 27th Videoex International Experimental Film & Video Festival, Zurich
2020  Co-founder Artists’ Film Collective (association and platform), Zurich
2019  Between Art and Cinema, seminar, Master Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich
2019  Meet the Artist, Kino Xenix, Zürich
2018  Guest lecture, Beijing Academy of Creative Arts, Beijing
2018  Video: Traces, Spaces & Circulations, seminar in the context of ‚How To…’, Master Fine Arts, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich
2018  Jury board, 20th Videoex International Experimental Film & Video Festival, Zurich
2018  Research encounter, Maritime Poetics: from Coast to Hinterland, Corner College, Zurich
2017  Guest lecture, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), as part of A Short Film History for Architects: Spatial Concepts in Film and Architecture, Professorship: Annette Gigon / Mike Guyer, with Dr. Marcel Bächtiger, Zurich
2014 – 2021 Talks and Symposia at various festivals, i.a. 30th IDFA, Amsterdam

CURATORIAL PROJECTS
Cine-Club Perla-Mode since 2012, together with his friends Anna Hilti (artist), Krispin Hée (graphic designer), Andreas Müller (filmmaker), Thomas Galler (artist)
Screenings and talks with filmmakers and artists, among others with Renzo Martens & Lukas Bärfuss, Hans Witschi, Melissa Dullius & Gustavo Jahn, Christian Schocher, Marcel Gisler, Thomas Imbach, Gisela Storch-Pestalozza, Kaleo La Belle, Samir Ramdani, Cyril Schäublin & Silvan Hiller, Benjamin Heisenberg
Supported by the City of Zurich

PROJECT AND TRAVEL GRANTS / INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT
Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia
Consulates General of Switzerland in Los Angeles, Santiago de Chile, Madrid, Mexico City, Sydney, Beijing
Arts Council Canton St. Gallen
Arts Council Canton Zürich
Arts Council City of Zurich
Pro Helvetia Cairo
Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation
Hibou Foundation
Foundation Anne-Marie Schindler
Volkart Foundation
Georg und Josi Guggenheim Foundation
Else v. Sick Foundation
Erna und Curt Burgauer Foundation
Swiss Films
Olga und Ernst Gubler-Hablützel Foundation
Gwärtler Foundation
Georges und Jenny Bloch Foundation
Dr. Adolf Streuli-Foundation
Steo Foundation
Catholic Media Centre (film support)
Casinelli Vogel Foundation
Hedwig Scherrer Foundation
Patronage Fund for Young Swiss Artists

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
All works in DCP 2K (Claws also in DCP 4K), 5.1 surround – editions of 5 + 1AP

Trilogy: Human-made Landscapes
2025. Claws, 38 min, no dialogue
2017. Transitions, 13 min, no dialogue
2024. Infrastructures, 23 min, no dialogue

Other Works
2027. Vögel (in progress), 30 min, with dialogue
2016 Old Mill, 6 min, no dialogue
2014. Desert Talks, 30 min, with dialogue