ZÜRICH.- Accumulation—On Collecting, Growth and Excess
First Sequence: February 8–May 25
Second Sequence: June 14–July 27
Progress and prosperity are often equated with the accumulation of goods. In spite of the increasing relevance of post-growth theories, growing consumer behaviour is significantly shaping our present society. But how can excessive growth be reconciled with the critical state of our ecosystem and the pursuit of social justice?
Museums too are affected by the logic of growth. For example, overcrowded collection warehouses are a perennial concern. The task of collecting presents today’s museums with the challenge of preserving art for future generations, while at the same time reflecting critically about such museum-based hoarding and developing more sustainable collection strategies.
The exhibition shows opportunities and models for shifting from a growth-orientated society to one focussing on the common good, and reflects on the role that art could play in this move towards lower consumption and greater regeneration.
It features works by Art & Language, Maja Bajevic, Thomas Bayrle, Maria Eichhorn, Rachel Harrison, Reto Pulfer, Selma Selman, Stirnimann Stojanovic, Sung Tieu, Cian Dayrit, Raqs Media Collective, Nils Amadeus Lange, Jumana Manna, Tobias Kaspar, Liz Magor, Tabor Robak, Oscar Tuazon, Andy Warhol and others.
Haegue Yang: Leap Year
September 27–January 18
For the first time in Switzerland, the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst presents a survey exhibition of the Berlin- and Seoul-based artist Haegue Yang. Leap Year brings together Yang’s work from the early 2000s to the present. Central to her work are themes of migration, displacement, and cross-cultural perspectives, often drawn from personal and broader historical contexts. Yang invites audiences to contemplate established narratives and reflect on their own lived experiences and identities, while often highlighting underrepresented figures of modernism. At the core of her practice is an aim to engage viewers, ensuring they do not remain indifferent to the layers of meaning embedded in her art.
Leap Year features new commissions and productions, offering a multisensory experience through installation, sculpture, collage, text, video, wallpaper, and sound. Yang transforms everyday items such as drying racks, nylon pom-poms, hand-knitted yarn, and lightbulbs in her work. These objects are familiar and easily identifiable, yet they present themselves to the spectator with ambiguity. Yang’s sculptures often possess anthropomorphic qualities, which can evoke feelings of empathy or sympathy. Highlights in the exhibition include the new commission, “Sonic Droplets in Gradation – Water Veil” (2024), where visitors walk through a curtain of bells, and the mobile performative sculpture “Sonic Dress Vehicle – Hulky Head” (2018). Both of these works reflect Yang’s focus on modular structures and the interplay of geometry and movement, enriched by references to East Asian traditions and modernism. Additionally her series, “The Intermediates” (2015-) draws from shamanistic and global weaving traditions, and incorporates materials such as artificial straw.
The exhibition is organised by the Hayward Gallery, London in association with Kunsthal Rotterdam and Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich.
Die Trauer der Tangente
Oktober 21–November 9
The exhibition grew out of the novel of the same name by Fabian Saul: “A friend dies, a love falls apart. In a world in which the stones speak of the past, the protagonist encounters his own feelings in the topography. Everything knows about transience - and knows everything about him.” This topography becomes a place you can walk through at the museum, making the novel a spatial experience. Various artists are invited to perform in this space.
