Symposium «Business as usual. Museen in Zeiten der Verwerfung»

The future of art museums is of great interest to all of us. A year ago, the first symposium was therefore held at the Kunstmuseum Chur in Graubünden: "Limits to Growth. What Next for Museums?". This symposium met with great interest and brought together art museum managers in particular to discuss pressing questions based on input presentations. This will be followed by the 2026 symposium: "Business as usual. Museums in times of upheaval". Once again, proven experts are invited to reflect on current developments from different perspectives using concrete examples and to ask questions about what museums can and must achieve today and how they react to social upheavals. Are hegemonic claims still tenable? What means and forces promise hope in times when the self-evident is in danger of being lost?

The symposium is taking place in cooperation between the Bündner Kunstmuseum, the Bündner Kunstverein and the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) at ETH Zurich.

PROGRAM

From 9 a.m.: Reception and welcome café

Input 1: Touch Ground. Disputes about the future and vision
Christina Végh, Director Kunsthalle Bielefeld

Input 2: "What's going wrong today, what's going right, in the world of museums?"
Niklas Maak, writer, journalist and architecture critic

Input 3: A great good place: KANAL-Centre Pompidou Brussels
To Fonteyne, Professor of Architecture and Design at the Chair of Affective Architectures

Input 4: Critical Infrastructure
San Keller, Artist

The input presentations will be followed by moderated discussion rounds.

From 4.30 p.m.: Aperitif / Conclusion

Moderation
Philip Ursprung, Professor of Art and Architectural History and Head of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta), ETH Zurich
Linda Schädler, Head of the Collection of Prints and Drawings, ETH Zurich

Admission is free.
Registration by November 3, 2026 is required at www.buendner-kunstmuseum.ch