DivergenX

Anja Ripoll dedicates a tremendous amount of her time to the studio. Through her sculptural practice, the medium of ceramics is explored to its very limits. In rejecting normative systems, the artist brings forth phantasmagorical worlds, playing with fundamental contrasts. These question the margins within dominant realities: rebirth before death, the fall preceding the ascent, order within chaos—or its opposite.

Anja Ripoll draws the viewer into her quest. Epochs and time itself become relative. By leaning over a piece or stretching one’s neck to closely observe a more concealed corner, pre- and post-apocalyptic reminiscences emerge. The iconography draws on funerary objects, mythical landscapes, and spiritual relics—obsolete remnants of a lost civilisation. The works span a wide spectrum of societal concerns. Some evoke a vertical displacement of the world’s wealth, where the exploitation of Southern resources feeds a fragile social pyramid in the North. Others observe and metaphorise ecological realities and the unassumed responsibilities of the powerful that accompany them.

The train is already in motion; it transforms into a vessel, encountering extraterrestrial life forms. Anthropomorphic specimens and strange hybrid bodies meet a biomorphic fauna and flora on the brink of extinction. Curiosity is stirred by the gaze. A sense of strangeness provokes both repulsion and visceral attraction. The place feels sacred, pyro-spiritual, intensifying an impression of timelessness. Through carved locks and keys, portals open toward new imaginaries. On the one hand, the body of work harbors esoteric secrets of an alchemist. On the other, it reacts to a governmental and media culture of concealment, where the truthfulness of information is constantly called into question within multiple echo chambers.

The machine accelerates—like globalised growth itself. In an intello-artificial world, the contours of these techno-organic sculptures glow red. What is to be seen begins to reshape our relationship to what surrounds us. To borrow Donna Haraway’s expression, tentacular figures pass through our bodies, unsettling our emotions and disordering our thoughts. The twenty-first century is made of contradictions. The artist’s work is made of contrasts. Human or otherwise, attraction and rejection, living or vanished, fascination and discomfort—everything becomes its own opposite, fired at more than a thousand degrees within the same kiln in full dissolution. Upon the smoking ruins of global phallocratic capitalism, a few resilient insects still wander. And there, finally, stand Anja’s works: solid, sharp, and burning.

The work of Anja Ripoll (*1995, CH/ES/IT) has been shown in solo/duo exhibitions at Swab Art Fair, Barcelona, ES (2026); Zabriskie Point, Geneva, CH; Le Grain, Geneva, CH (2025); àDuplex, Geneva, CH; Soloshow, online (2023). She has been nominated for several awards, including the City of Geneva Grants, Centre d’Art Contemporain at Le Commun, Geneva, CH (2025); the International Ceramics Competition, Musée de Carouge, CH (2024); and the Young Contemporary Ceramics Competition, Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie, FR (2023). She is the recipient of a residency grant from the Fondation Bruckner, Geneva, CH (2022). Her works have been included in numerous group exhibitions, including Jungkunst, Winterthur, CH; Fesses-tival, Geneva, CH (2026); Museo Vincenzo Vela, Ligornetto, CH; Spielact Festival, Geneva, CH (2025); gr_und, Berlin, DE; Metamorphika, London, UK; Espace Dukat, Geneva, CH (2024); Sic! Elephant House, Lucerne, CH; and Candy Snake, Milan, IT (2023). Since September 2026, she has been an artist in residence at Espacio Pluto in Valencia, Spain, where she will remain until the end of February 2027.

Awards, Residencies, Grants

2026–27
Espacio Pluto, Valencia, ES (residency)

2025
Bourses Berthoud, Lissignol-Chevalier et Galland, Geneva, CH (nomination)

2024
International Ceramics Competition, Musée de Carouge, Geneva, CH (nomination)
Offhause Museum Collection, Geneva, CH

2023
Young European Ceramics Competition, Saint-Quentin-La-Poterie, FR (nomination)
Irina Razumovskaya Studio, London, UK (residency)

2022
Bruckner Foundation, Geneva, CH (residency & grant)


Duo Exhibitions

2026
Burn Down The House, Swab Art Fair, Barcelona, ES (duo w. Jeanne Tara)

2025
Sursum Corda, Le Grain, Geneva, CH (duo w. Tristan Cubero)
Tout Feu, Tout Flamme, Zabriskie Point, Geneva, CH (duo w. Lucie Kohler)

2023
Citizens of Syll’eske, àDuplex, Geneva, CH (duo w. Tristan Cubero)


Group Exhibitions

2026
Jungkunst, Winterthur, CH (w. Tristan Cubero)
dilating the end of times, Le Fesses-tival, Maison Saint Gervais, Geneva, CH
La Petite Fumée, Parcours Céramique Carouge, Espace Dukat, Geneva, CH
DivergenX, Ressources Urbaines, Geneva, CH
Does It Ring A Bell?, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2025
Swiss Ceramics, Vincenzo Vela Museum, Ligornetto, CH
Side Quest for the Real, For The Win, Le Commun, Geneva, CH (w. Tristan Cubero)
Bourses de la Ville de Genève, Le Commun, Geneva, CH (w. Tristan Cubero)
Collections d’Artistes, Spielact, Le Commun, Geneva, CH

2024
Kaugummi im Motherboard 2.0, cur. Katya Quel, gr_und, Berlin, DE
International Ceramics Competition, Musée de Carouge, Geneva, CH
La Clarté de la Lune, Espace Dukat, Geneva, CH
Collection Show, Offhause Museum, Geneva, CH
Opening Show, Metamorphika, London, UK

2023
Endless Bazaar, Echolot Festival, Sic! Elephanthouse, Lucerne, CH
Infinite Solstice, Candy Snake, Milano, IT

2022
Access, cur. by Cherish, Art au Centre, Geneva, CH (for Agapornis)

2021
Back to Earth, International Academy of Ceramics Congress, Motel Campo, Geneva, CH
Eurythmie, Fonderie Kugler, Geneva, CH


Publications

2024
Kaugummi im Motherboard 2.0, OFLUXO

2022
Gothic Pastoral, soloshow


Education

2018-22
Federal VET Diploma, Ceramics, CFP Arts, Geneva, CH