Marcel Broodthaers (1924 –1976), who did not turn to the visual arts until he was 40, worked intensively on the subject of the museum. The Belgian artist’s critical perspective on that institution has lost none of its relevance today. Four actors assume a central role and will be highlighted in the cabinet exhibition: the museum itself, artists, the art market, and visitors. The works on display are mostly drawn from the Collection of Prints and Drawings at the Kunsthaus, which holds all the artist’s editions. They comprise prints, photographs and films along with installations, and offer an opportunity to reflect on Broodthaers’s fundamental question: ‘What is the role of that which represents artistic life in society – namely the role of the museum?’

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Ill: Marcel Broodthaers, La souris écrit rat (à compte d’auteur), 1974 Kunsthaus Zürich, donated by the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, 1982 © Succession Marcel Broodthaers / 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich