ZURICH.- After four years at the museum – one of which was as a member of the collective leadership – Dr. Michael Birchall has decided to pursue new career paths and will leave the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst at the end of March. Birchall will remain connected to the museum as a curator next year. The vacant co-leadership position will be filled again.

Dr. Michael Birchall joined the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst as a curator in 2020 and soon became a member of the leadership team. In 2023, he contributed to the development of the new collective leadership structure, in which he took part from its inception in December 2023. He has now decided to pursue new career paths by the end of March.

He shaped the museum with numerous exhibitions, publications, and gained international recognition with exhibitions such as: Evan Ifekoya ~ Resonant Frequencies, Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme May amnesia never kiss us on the mouth, and the group exhibition Interdependencies: Perspectives on Care and Resilience. Within the museum, he shaped the programme with an integrated approach to exhibition making with inclusion and diversity at its core. This significantly helped to raise the profile of the museum. Birchall will continue to support the exhibition programme next year, by curating the exhibition by Haegue Yang: Leap Year (27.9.2025-18.1.2026) in the fall of 2025.

Mira Song, Head of the Social Affairs and Culture Department of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, thanks Michael Birchall: "During his time here, Michael significantly shaped the curatorial face of the museum. Together with the team, he also helped to build and establish a new museum leadership structure. I sincerely thank him for his great commitment and wish him all the best for the future."

The personnel change does not affect the collective leadership structure established in 2023. The search for a successor is initiated. Mira Song adds: "With the new leadership structure, we took an innovative step and after a year we can conclude: We are on the right track. Different expertise comes together as equals, and responsibility is shared – this also requires time to develop, and we have gained valuable experience over the past year. I am very pleased to continue working with the leadership collective on this path.