We Are Here! A Bold New Chapter at Museum Haus Konstruktiv
This summer, Zurich’s Museum Haus Konstruktiv launches a new chapter with the exhibition We Are Here!, celebrating its long-anticipated relocation to the Löwenbräukunst-Areal after nearly 25 years at ewz-Unterwerk Selnau. On view from May 16 to September 28, 2025, the exhibition showcases a selection of seminal works and new acquisitions, offering a fresh reading of the museum’s collection and its core focus: concrete, constructivist, and conceptual art.
Now housed at Limmatstrasse 268, the museum’s new home opens with three exhibition halls featuring works that trace the evolution of abstraction from the 1920s to the present. Central to the show is a focused homage to the Zurich Concretists — Max Bill, Richard Paul Lohse, Verena Loewensberg, and Camille Graeser — whose legacy remains foundational to the museum’s identity and was instrumental in the creation of its supporting foundation in 1986. The historical narrative is further enriched by works from Leo Leuppi, Fritz Glarner, Nelly Rudin, Hans Jörg Glattfelder, and Vera Molnar, represented here with Parcours à angles droits, a textile piece gifted by the artist. Additional key works include Christian Herdeg’s luminous Red Explosion, and two major compositions by Richard Paul Lohse — Zwei Bewegungen um eine Achse and Bewegung von vier kontrastierenden Gruppen aus einem Zentrum — that exemplify his methodical visual language.
In dialogue with these foundational figures, the exhibition also highlights a dynamic group of contemporary artists, whose works explore new directions within the traditions of geometric, conceptual, and spatial art. Among them is Esther Stocker, whose wall-based installation Geometria arrabbiata brings her signature black-and-white visual language into the museum café, activating the space through rhythmic, optical interventions that echo the perceptual play central to her practice.
Recent acquisitions further expand the collection’s scope: Sunset 1–7 by Ricardo Alcaide, a gift from von Bartha, Basel, and Connect the Dots by Brigitte Kowanz, donated by Christa and Wolfgang Häusler, Häusler Contemporary Zürich, stand out for their poetic clarity. Kowanz’s piece — minimal yet resonant — subtly evokes the spirit of Steve Jobs’ famous 2005 Stanford commencement speech, where he urged graduates to “connect the dots” by trusting in the meaning that only reveals itself in hindsight. In this context, Kowanz’s luminous gesture becomes a quiet metaphor for insight and intuition within an increasingly fragmented world.
The presentation is further enriched by works from Vanessa Billy, Philippe Decrauzat, Carissa Rodriguez, Rodrigo Hernández, Elodie Pong, Dominik Stauch, Tobias Putrih, and Christine Streuli — each contributing distinct formal and conceptual lenses to the evolving legacy of abstraction.
We Are Here! is more than an exhibition — it marks a thoughtful continuation and renewal of purpose. With its move to a new space and its integration of legacy and contemporary voices, Museum Haus Konstruktiv reaffirms its role as a vital site for engaging with the evolving dialogues of concrete and conceptual art.