Kunstmuseum Thun

The Kunstmuseum Thun, housed in the former “Grand Hôtel” Thunerhof on the banks of the Aare River, shows contemporary art in four to five temporary exhibitions each year. In its exhibition calendar, the museum strives to strike a balance between regional, national and international art. Each exhibition is accompanied by an extensive supporting programme of curated and art education activities, ranging from workshops and tours to readings and discussions of selected works. The largest item in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Thun can be viewed in Thun’s Schadaupark, where the Thun Panorama, which is over 200 years old, has been on display in a rotunda since 2015.

Kunstmuseum Thun
SUSANNE KELLER. HINTERKAMMER DES AUGES
until Su, 29.11.2026

Überraschende Ein-, Durch- und Ausblicke wird die Ausstellung der multidisziplinär arbeitenden Zürcher Künstlerin Susanne Keller (*1980) im Glasanbau des Thun-Panorama bieten. Neben den sieben Guckkasten-Objekten wird sie die Fotoserie Körner Gaumen mundet und eine Auswahl von Texten und Gedichten präsentieren. Ausgehend von der Thematik des Rundbilds von Marquard Wocher (1760–1830), in dem die Stadt als Bühne und ihre Bewohner:innen als Schauspieler:innen präsentiert werden, wird auch in Kellers modellartigen Guckkästen die Bühnenhaftigkeit, das Inszenierte und das Hintergründige in den Fokus gerückt. Die aus einfachsten Materialien wie Karton, Holz, Acrylfarbe, Metall und ausgeschnittene Bilder entstandenen Guckkästen verschmelzen zusammen mit den traumverloren wirkenden Fotos im Postkartenformat und den Gedichten zu einem dichten poetischen Imaginationsraum. Durch das Betreten des Ausstellungsraums werden die Betrachtenden selbst zu Akteur:innen in der Hinterkammer des Auges.

 

Thun-Panorama, Schadaupark, 3600 Thun

 

 

 

Kunstmuseum Thun
Schnittstellen der Sicht. Hans Gerber und Sabine Hertig
until Su, 29.11.2026

In einem dialogischen Zusammenspiel vereint die Ausstellung Collagen von Hans Gerber (1910-1987) und Sabine Hertig (*1982). Hans Gerber entwickelte ab Mitte der 1950er Jahre über fast zwei Jahrzehnte hinweg eine eigene Bildsprache – geprägt von einem skulpturalen Blick auf Fläche und Form. Über 400 seiner Werke sind im Besitz des Kunstmuseum Thun und werden nun erstmals seit 1980 neu präsentiert und kontextualisiert.

 

Sabine Hertig nutzt das Prinzip der Collage seit 2010 als künstlerische Denk- und Arbeitsweise. Indem sie einzelne Fragmente miteinander in Beziehung setzt und das grosse Ganze aus Sicht des Details denkt, reflektiert sie zugleich die aktuelle Medien- und Bildwelt. Im Spannungsfeld zwischen analogem Bildmaterial, künstlerischer Handschrift und digitaler Bildgebung, präsentiert die Ausstellung zwei Kunstschaffende, die Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der Collage zusammenführen.

 

Kunstmuseum Thun
Cantonale Berne Jura 2026/2027
Fr, 11.12.2026 – Su, 21.02.2027

The Cantonale Berne Jura was launched in 2011 and is dedicated to intercantonal collaboration. Spread across various institutions, it offers artists an important and wide-ranging platform and presents the public with the diversity of artistic creation in Bern and the Jura.

 

This year’s edition of the inter-cantonal Christmas exhibition Cantonale Berne Jura at the Kunstmuseum Thun showcases contemporary, refreshing, uncompromising, magnificent, ingeniously simple and exhilaratingly complex works. Spread across eleven art institutions, the Cantonale forms a significant platform for contemporary art of supra-regional importance and presents a broad spectrum of artistic perspectives.

 

Kunstmuseum Thun
MONICA URSINA JÄGER. STATES OF PLANETARY BEING
In the annex of the Thun-Panorama, Schadau Park, 3600 Thun
Mo, 01.03.2027 – Su, 28.11.2027

With States of Planetary Being, the Kunstmuseum Thun and the Museo Villa dei Cedri in Bellinzona are presenting the first comprehensive solo exhibition by the Swiss artist Monica Ursina Jäger (b. 1974). For over twenty years, Jäger has been working at the intersection of art, science and philosophy, exploring the complex relationships between people, landscapes and non-human actors. Through drawings, collages, installations, video and sound works, she creates multi-layered habitats that bring rivers, glaciers, forests, plants and micro-organisms to life as active protagonists. Jäger’s works navigate the space between imagination and research. They continually challenge conventional notions of what is considered living and non-living. The museum’s spaces become places of exchange and experience, in which an expanded understanding of life unfolds – poetic, sensory and critical all at once.

 

In parallel, Monica Ursina Jäger is presenting an immersive, site-specific installation under the same title at the Thun-Panorama, which incorporates the entire extension building.

 

Kunstmuseum Thun
Monica Ursina Jäger. States of Planetary Being
Sa, 13.03.2027 – Su, 20.06.2027

With States of Planetary Being, the Kunstmuseum Thun and the Museo Villa dei Cedri in Bellinzona are presenting the first comprehensive solo exhibition by the Swiss artist Monica Ursina Jäger (b. 1974). For over twenty years, Jäger has been working at the intersection of art, science and philosophy, exploring the complex relationships between people, landscapes and non-human actors. Through drawings, collages, installations, video and sound works, she creates multi-layered habitats that bring rivers, glaciers, forests, plants and micro-organisms to life as active protagonists. Jäger’s works navigate the space between imagination and research. They continually challenge conventional notions of what is considered living and non-living. The museum’s spaces become places of exchange and experience, in which an expanded understanding of life unfolds – poetic, sensory and critical all at once.

 

In parallel, Monica Ursina Jäger is presenting an immersive, site-specific installation under the same title at the Thun-Panorama, which incorporates the entire extension building.

 

Kunstmuseum Thun
SAC Art Prize – Massimiliano Rossetto
Sa, 13.03.2027 – Su, 20.06.2027

Massimiliano Rossetto is the winner of the 2026 SAC Art Prize. Through his paintings, sculptures and works incorporating scent, the Ticino-based artist explores remote, often alpine

regions, as well as the people who live there and the memories associated with them. The SAC (Swiss Alpine Club) regularly honours outstanding artistic works that engage with the cultural and geographical realm of the Alps. The SAC Art Prize carries a cash prize of CHF 10,000 and is open to artists from all four linguistic regions of Switzerland – working in literature, visual arts, photography, film, music, dance and theatre. The prize-winners are also given the opportunity to present their work to a wide audience through an exhibition at a Swiss institution.

 

The exhibition will take place at the Projektraum enter.