Art collector Grazyna Kulczyk plans to launch a contemporary art museum in the remote town of Susch in the Swiss Alps next year.
Muzeum Susch will have more than 1,500 sqm of exhibition space among the remnants of a medieval monastery with the Alps in the background. The private gallery will be a “laboratory”, adopting experimental approaches to contemporary art.
The monastery site, comprising a former vicarage, hospice, economic building and brewery building, has been restored by architects Chasper Schmidlin and Lukas Voellmy.
The website for the museum also states that the buildings have been “recombined in a complex form, an inspiring environment for artistic production and mediation, a diverse ensemble encouraging exploratory journeys for visitors and introducing spaces for exhibitions and experimental presentations, performances and lectures as well as a residency programme”.
The cost of the museum has not been disclosed but it is believed that Kulczyk is self-funding the project.
“The programme [at Muzeum Susch] will draw on themes in the [Kulczyk] collection as a starting point, but not show works from it exclusively,” a spokeswoman told the Art Newspaper. “The scope of the collection has evolved over the years, combining works by Polish and international artists.”
Kulczyk’s collection includes a large amount of photography, with works by Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Cindy Sherman. She also owns works by Renate Bertlmann, Eva Hesse, Carol Rama and Birgit Jürgenssen.
Kasia Redzisz, senior curator at Tate Liverpool, will organise the opening exhibition. It will feature works by more than 30 international artists that examine conventions of representation and body politics.
Kulczyk previously purchased the art and performance space Stary Browar in Poznan in 1998 and sold it in 2015.
Images: c. Muzeum Susch.
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/polish-collector-grazyna-kulczyk-to-launch-vast-contemporary-art-complex-in-secluded-swiss-valley-town
