The New Kunsthaus: Great Art and Architecture is a new exhibition revealing what will be on offer to museum's visitors from 2017 in the new extension designed by David Chipperfield Architects. Covering more than 1,300 m2, the presentation of 78 objects will include highlights and new acquisitions from the Kunsthaus collection as well as major works on loan, from Henri Matisse to Willem de Kooning.
On 25 November, voters in the City of Zurich will have their say on the investment contribution for the Kunsthaus extension. To accompany the vote, the Kunsthaus is mounting a large-scale exhibition giving visitors a chance to experience what is in store from 2017 onwards - in terms of great art and architecture.
The exhibition begins with a presentation of the extension itself, created in association with David Chipperfield Architects, in which visitors can examine a series of detailed model elements and construction plans close up and appreciate the design's central place in the work of the renowned architect, even as the finishing touches are still being applied. For the first time, it includes samples of materials that have made it onto the short list. Large-format views, created from a number of models of the building, convey an impression of the new galleries and draw attention to architectural details. Particularly striking is the extensive use of gently gleaming brass - a material that David Chipperfield encountered in the existing Moser building and respectfully references in the new construction.
These architectural windows on the future are complemented by a free-standing small 'box' containing a selection (17 works, mainly on paper) of the Kunsthaus's own treasures from a movement that, owing to space constraints in the existing building and conservation requirements, cannot always be exhibited: DADA. More of them will be on show in the existing building from 2017 onwards. The presence of this DADA box, with its radical content that rejects all ideas of permanence, contrasts powerfully with the evocation of the Kunsthaus extension, with its combination of clear, restrained and simple architecture and external order.