Switzerland’s largest and youngest museum of contemporary art.
Switzerland’s largest and youngest museum of contemporary art, the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, to give Mamco its full name, has not only set a benchmark in showing current work, it has catalysed a whole new cultural district in the now gallery-peppered Quartier des Bains. Founded in 1994 and occupying 4,000m2 of a former 1950s factory building, Mamco dedicates most of its beautifully repurposed space to temporary shows, while sharing highlights from a collection of more than 3,000 works. Signature permanent pieces include Gianni Motti’s 1999 ‘Big Crunch Clock’, a solar-powered digital timer counting down the five billion years until the sun explodes (solar-powered, for extra Italian irony), and Maurizio Nannucci’s joyous neon work ‘Art, Text, Light, Sign’, conceived for the gallery’s 1994 opening and shown on the staircase’s four mezzanines. Another showpiece is a fascinating, faithful recreation of the Paris apartment of minimalist and conceptual art collector Ghislain Mollet-Viéville which displays pieces by Dan Flavin, Donald Judd and Bernd and Hilla Becher. Great guided tours are available, including kid-friendly versions, and on the first Sundays and Wednesdays of the month, they’re free.
