ZURICH.- From 3 October 2025, the Kunsthaus Zürich, in collaboration with the German artist Wolfgang Laib (b. 1950 Metzingen), is staging an exhibition of works by Laib along with selected pieces from the collection of the Kunsthaus, as part of the ‘ReCollect!’ series. Laib is one of the most important artists of our time, and has exhibited in numerous major museums, exhibition galleries and historic buildings in Europe, the US and Asia.

Since the late 1970s, Wolfgang Laib has developed an artistic language that is uniquely his own. He uses natural materials such as pollen, beeswax, milk and stone to create works through which, in Harald Szeemann’s words, he ‘reveals immeasurable inner spaces through the smallest sculptural gestures’.

The content of his art has evolved against the backdrop of various literary, philosophical and spiritual traditions, particularly from Europe and Asia. In formal terms, Laib employs a clear, pared-down language that is closely allied to the development of modern art, mainly in Europe and the US.

In recent years, Laib has sometimes installed his works in significant church spaces in Italy, where they met architecture and artworks from the 6th century to the Renaissance. Now, similar ‘transhistorical’ encounters with works by Wolfgang Laib are taking place in the museum for the first time as part of the ‘ReCollect!’ series, as they meet outstanding masterpieces from the Collection, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. These juxtapositions open up a new perspective on both Laib’s art and the Kunsthaus’s own holdings.

WITH WOLFGANG LAIB IN THE COLLECTION OF THE KUNSTHAUS ZÜRICH

The exhibition can be seen on the first floor of the Müller building, an area which will be consistently used for dialogues with the Collection and contemporary art in years to come. Laib has known the Kunsthaus Collection since he was a child – its influence on him is mirrored by that of the Museum Rietberg, which he has also visited often. In line with the ‘ReCollect!’ concept, Wolfgang Laib is acting as both artist and curator, and is developing the exhibition in dialogue with Senior Curator Collection Philippe Büttner, who oversaw a major Laib retrospective at the Fondation Beyeler back in 2005.

WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition shows some 50 key works by Wolfgang Laib. Almost all the important groups from his career are represented, including a large pollen work, a ‘Brahmanda’ (a large, egg-shaped stone sculpture), a milkstone, a ziggurat (stepped tower), a walk-through wax room, rice houses, a lacquer stair and other sculptures, drawings and photographs.

These are complemented by around 30 items from the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich, dating from the 14th to the 20th century. Laib is making the selection himself, and engaging his own works with important pieces of art history. Among the exhibits chosen are paintings by the circle of Fra Angelico, Matteo di Giovanni, Philippe de Champaigne, Heinrich Freudweiler, Ludwig Hess, Claude Monet and Ferdinand Hodler, as well as works by Alberto Giacometti, Constantin Brancusi, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, Verena Loewensberg, Piet Mondrian, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Robert Ryman, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Lee Ufan.

They are joined by some Asian art objects – primarily from India – that have likewise informed Laib’s work. Of particular note is a major loan from the Museum Rietberg: a marble statue from the Indian tradition of the Jain, whose philosophy of non- violence profoundly impresses Laib. The figure depicts Jina Rishabha, the first of 24 mythical preachers of Jain teachings, and comes originally from the architectural context of religious ritual.

A LONG RELATIONSHIP WITH THE KUNSTHAUS ZÜRICH

A central element of the exhibition is Laib’s personal connection with the Kunsthaus Zürich which, like the Museum Rietberg, he has known since his childhood. Both institutions have profoundly influenced his trajectory. The Kunsthaus is thus the ideal frame within which to present his works in living dialogue with those from other eras. From 1981 onwards, the Kunsthaus Zürich was also the workplace of Harald Szeemann (1933–2005), a close companion of Laib’s and a leading curator, who was instrumental in promoting him. In an annual report of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, Szeemann wrote of him: ‘Wolfgang Laib is not a European with an Indo-Tibetan stamp using the context of art; rather, he is a consciously contemporary artist, who reveals immeasurable inner spaces through the smallest sculptural gestures. […] His works are of an absolute, immediate beauty that changes how we breathe.’

In the museum, Laib’s works exude a silent, spiritual power. In their radical reduction, they set up a tense dialogue with the Collection – not as a competitor but as a complement with a timeless presence.