City Animals: Zürich's Wild Side Goes on Display in Summer 2027
In summer 2027, Zürich's City Vereinigung will fill the city's streets, shop windows, and public squares with hand-crafted wooden sculptures of native wildlife. The ten-week installation features species that actually inhabit urban Zürich — foxes, badgers, owls, squirrels, and fire salamanders — most of which go unseen day-to-day because they are nocturnal or shy.
Each sculpture is handmade and lacquered in the Zürcher Oberland by the artist collective Laborraum Pialeto, with wildlife biologists from StadtWildTiere consulted to ensure accuracy. Every piece is a unique — taking around three days to produce. The target is 200 sculptures, with businesses able to purchase one for CHF 2,950 until 1 May, rising to CHF 3,950 thereafter.
Eight sponsored herds are also planned at key locations including Paradeplatz, Lindenhof, and Hechtplatz. Each sculpture comes with a QR code for a city-wide digital scavenger hunt, with prizes up for grabs throughout the summer.
The campaign follows a proud City Vereinigung tradition. The 1998 "Cow Parade" saw 815 individually decorated fibreglass cows installed across Zürich, later inspiring copycat events in New York, Rio, and Marseille. City Animals runs from early July to mid-September 2027, backed by a budget of around CHF 1 million and partners including Zürich Tourismus, ZKB, and Confiserie Sprüngli.
