A railroad whistle sounds, announcing the approach of a distant train, at first hardly audible and increasing in volume until, with a massive boom, the train passes through the museum—at least acoustically. Titled Passing Through in reference to cub.-bird, alex+mix 11, the conspicuous immersive installation by German artist Manfred Pernice (b. 1963 in Hildesheim), this exhibition is conceived as an intermediate stop that shows the current state of the museum’s constantly developing collection. The form of Pernice’s multipart work is evocative of Minimalist structures built of particle board whose painted surfaces suggest yellow tiles or the look of public space design in West Germany during the postwar years of the Economic Wonder. This new acquisition reflects the collecting strategy of the Kunst Museum Winterthur by purposefully bringing together the historical focus of the collection from the 1970s with the present, filling the autonomous form of late modernism with content. This approach has been followed in recent years with acquisitions that consistently continue to redefine the collection. Instead of collecting individual works, the goal is to acquire comprehensive groups of works by contemporary artists that are not yet represented in Switzerland. While this exhibition is a way of thanking our numerous supporters and patrons, including the Association of Galleries and the Cultural Funds of the Canton of Zurich, most of all it pays homage to the artists who have substantially enhanced museum acquisitions with their generous gifts.

This exhibition focuses on sculptural, room-filling works and conceptual approaches, in addition to individual groups of drawings and video installations, including works by Walead Beshty, Katinka Bock, Monica Bonvicini, David Claerbout, Thea Djordjadze, Fabrice Gygi, Bethan Huws, Karin Sander, and Manfred Pernice. Presenting the collection as an intermediate stop, the exhibition Passing Through shows a collection in movement—developed from the past with a destination in the future.

Curated by Konrad Bitterli