Muzeum Susch
Muzeum Susch is a private art museum located in the town of Susch, Switzerland, which focuses on collecting and promoting the work of women modern and contemporary artists. Founded by the Polish entrepreneur and art collector Grażyna Kulczyk, Muzeum Susch opened on January 2, 2019. Its name uses the original Polish spelling of the word museum.
Location
With a population of just over 200 people, Susch is 1438 meters above sea level, in the Lower Engadine valley, in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. The Lower Engadine valley contains towns such as St. Moritz and Davos. The museum can be easily accessed via the Swiss Federal Railways; the nearest railway station is Susch, 350 meters away.History
Monastery
The buildings that make up Muzeum Susch were part of a rural monastery founded in 1157. The monastery was on the pilgrims' path to Rome and Santiago de Compostela called Jacob's trail. The buildings consisted of a vicarage, hospice and economic building. In the 19th century a brewery building was added.Redevelopment
acquired the museum building and three other old Engadine houses on the same street and commissioned the architect duo Chasper Schmidlin and Lukas Voellmy to develop the Muzeum Susch project from the complex. Since all buildings are under cantonal monument protection, an extension of the exhibition space was only possible inside the mountain, while the existing structures were subtly restored and recombined. In the first construction phase, 9000 tons of rock were blasted out, and the cavernous rooms in the mountain were designed. The raw stone was left in some rooms, making it possible to experience the mountain's insides; in one room, you can see how spring water emerges from the rock. The amphibolite rock was blown up, ground up and reused as polished floor covering. Other floors are made of local stone pine, pebbles from the Inn or limestone slabs used in the previous buildings. The renovation took three years. Today, the exhibition area covers 1500 square meters on four floors in around twenty rooms arranged like a labyrinth and differently designed.Opening
The gallery opened on 2 January 2019.Building and exhibition space
The whole museum complex consists of four buildings: the Bieraria, the Bieraria Veglia, the Chasa Della Santa and the Artist House. The entrance to the Museum is through the basement of the Bieraria. The Bieraria Veglia is accessed through a pre-existing underground passage, where exhibition space and the headquarters of the Muzeum Susch/Art Stations Foundation CH are housed.The space draws a connection to nature, and was built to encourage an exploratory, slow art journey introducing spaces for exhibitions and experimental presentations, performances, conferences, lectures and events, as well as an interdisciplinary residency programme.
In summer, terraced gardens designed by landscape architect Günther Vogt can be accessed from the exhibition rooms.
Exhibition
The exhibits inside the building consist of permanent installations and seasonal exhibitions.Permanent site-specific installations
Muzeum Susch consists of a series of permanent, site-specific installations by international contemporary artists. The installations engage with the architecture and the characteristic structure.Each of the permanent installations plays a part in shaping the evolving character and distinctive layout of the space, inviting a unique sense of choreography with temporary works on display that will occupy most of the building space.
Monika Sosnowska’s 'Stairs', a 14m steel spinal column structure, was one of the first site-specific works to arrive at Muzeum Susch, and it sits in the former ice tower of the brewery.
Other permanent site-specific installations include: Narcissussusch by Mirosław Bałka, Midada da structura by Mirko Baselgia, Herrenzimmer by Heidi Bucher, Piss Flowers by Helen Chadwick, Dreams in Black I and Dreams in Black II by Izabella Gustowska, Flock I by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Ethnic Wars. Large Vanitas Still Life by Zofia Kulik, Inn Reverse by Sara Masüger, Painkillers by Joanna Rajkowska, Real Nazis & Untitled by Piotr Uklański, From the Series The Theater of Disappearance XXXI by Adrián Villar Rojas, Tuor per Susch by Not Vital, Myśliciel by Paweł Althamer, You Heard Me Scream and There Was So Much More of Me by Tracey Emin, Corrida by Xanti Schawinsky and Untitled by Heimo Zobernig.
Temporary exhibitions
Other programmes
Acziun Susch
Created and curated by Joanna Lesnierowska, Acziun Susch is a research and presentation platform bringing forward the art of choreography in dialogue with other disciplines and providing the dance community with a meeting point in the Swiss Alps.The programme of research residencies combines space for reflection and individual practice with public rehearsals, workshops and lectures.