Since 1998, the Moscow-based artist and author Pavel Pepperstein has been exhibiting with artist guests from Russia as part of Project Collection. The Kunsthaus Zug thus became a European meeting place for Russian artists and aroused interest in their work in wider circles.

In the context of Moscow conceptualism in the 1980s, conversation played a central role and was developed into an art form. The endless discourse among artist friends was continued under new conditions verbally, literarily and pictorially. Ilya Kabakov (New York), Boris Groys (Vienna) and Pavel Pepperstein (Moscow) met in Zug. Ilya Kabakov, who died in 2023, has become one of the world's best-known artists since emigrating to the USA at the end of the 1980s, and Boris Groys is one of the most renowned art theorists and art critics, was rector of the Vienna Art Academy and professor at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, and teaches at the University of New York since 2005.

The three, who had been close friends for decades, performed in Zug for the first time as an artist trio. They designed an installation exclusively for Zug that encompassed the entire Kunsthaus. The conversation exhibited in the museum – a paradox – could be understood as a metaphor for the conversation that does not really take place in society. Questions such as the role of the artist today, his relationship to the museum and society, the definition of communication, the role of new media, etc. The discourse, which was secondary in itself, was transformed into a primary, artistic exhibition object, which was "illustrated" by Ilya Kabakov as well as by Pepperstein's wall drawings. The video installation, conceived by Boris Groys, was acquired by Kunsthaus Zug for the Kabakov Collection.

An extensive text booklet was published with a conversation by Boris Groys, Ilya Kabakov and Pavel Pepperstein («Zuger Gespräch», 2001), translated by Gabriele Leupold, Berlin, the first recipient of the Zug Translation Scholarship.

This project is part of the Pavel Pepperstein Collection, a long-term project for which the publication "Pavel Pepperstein and Guests" was published by Hatje Cantz Verlag in 2004. It contains a photo essay by the Swiss photographer Guido Baselgia, who documented the project, which lasted more than five years.

As part of a redesign of the station square, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov created an unusual drinking fountain made of Carrara marble – a gift from Wasserwerke Zug AG to the people of Zug and on the occasion of the company's 125th anniversary. In the simple and abstract-looking form of the sculpture, a closer look reveals a male abdomen. For this reason, the sculpture can be read as an allusion to Marcel Duchamp's "Urinoir" or as a mischievous reinterpretation of the "Manneken-Pis" in Brussels. The artist couple understands the object as a source of water and ironically alludes to the body's natural water cycle: the perpetual and tireless cycle of drinking and excretion.

The sculpture, with its human proportions in front of the high façade of the station, is located on an "anonymous" square. The fountain stands on a teardrop-shaped concrete base, which is landscaped by a small patch of grass. As a result, a piece of nature is brought to where it is largely absent. If the fragment is added to in thought, the full-length figure fits the size of the station building. The abstraction of the human form is ironically reminiscent of works by Hans Arp and Constantin Brâncuși, while the materiality – Carrara marble – ties in with an older tradition, for example by Michelangelo. The work was made in a Carrara stonemason's studio, in cooperation with Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. With its structure, location and integrated function, the work offers a kind of "stage". Users stand on the slightly raised concrete plinth and drink, turning them into actors, just like in theater. By incorporating the environment, the work is also an installation.

The Kunsthaus Zug presented the first retrospective of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's architectural projects, organized by the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. Since his unofficial artistic activity in Moscow (late 1950s), Ilya has developed literary and drawn concepts of spaces. Since the collaboration with his wife Emilia (from 1989), Ilya has increasingly succeeded in the precise concretization and realization of his building ideas – which seems to open up a field of tension between the transformation of real states in architectural execution and fictitious spaces. Around 40 models and over 400 drawings were exhibited, in which their architectural projects became visually comprehensible. One of the unrealized major works is, for example, the "Utopian City", a design for the transformation of the entire former coking plant of the Zollverein colliery in Essen. The exhibition was set up by Ilya Kabakov herself.

On the occasion of the exhibition shown in Bielefeld (2004), Zug (2005) and London (2005), a publication was published in 2004 by Kerber Verlag: "Ilya & Emilia Kabakov. The Utopian City and Other Projects".

The Kunsthaus Zug invited Ilya (d. 2023) and Emilia Kabakov to design a collection archive in connection with the planned Kunsthaus expansion. Her idea, "The Museum's Archive", is a living, mysterious treasure trove for young and old, where hidden things come to light for a few moments and then dive back into the protective darkness of the archive. The architectural art installation is at the service of an important museum task: the storage and mediation of art. Although, of course, it is by no means possible to show the entire collection of the Kunsthaus Zug, the "Museum's Archive" offers more space to experience works of art – in a unique way.

In order to check the realization potential of the project design, the architectural firm Guntli Architektur GmbH, in cooperation with Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, further concretized the project. The feasibility study showed that the technical implementation is in place. The necessary development under the city wall did not meet with the approval of the cantonal monument preservation.

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Concept of the Installation

The difficulties in displaying any exposition consist of the fact that no matter how few objects we actually display in a given space, the viewer’s attention is dissipated because there is too much information in the field of his attention. How can this concentration of attraction be augmented, how can the viewer be expected to concentrate on only one thing? The proposed project is intended to resolve this problem. Exhibition objects fill up all the cubicles in a tall, long structure that extends from floor to ceiling. The front wall of each cubicle is covered with dark glass in such a way that the entire structure looks like a solid dark surface. A light is slowly turned on in one of the cubicles and the object inside (a sketch, a painting, a sculpture) is illuminated, then a light is turned on in another cubicle, while the light in the first one is slowly extinguished. Hence, the entire wall is transformed into a magical performance where the works of art preserved in the archive appear out of the gloom (that is, out of the darkness), first here, then there. Opposite the “wall”, there are two rows of benches where the viewer can sit and concentrate on each fragment of this performance and escape from the state of being a “tourist” who is just running past.

Description of the Installation

The main block of storage cubicles is an irregularly shaped long rectangle. On the outside it looks like a solid black block from floor to ceiling that the viewer walks around, winding up at the exit. This black block (in appearance resembles somewhat the sacred rock “Kaaba” in Mecca) is located underground and is contained in a cement space with rounded edges. (The walls are made of cement using a vertical mold.) There are two doors into the proposed future warehouse, and two doors to the street as fire exits. Inside of the block there is a corridor for employees. In each cubicle there is a shelf and an individual lamp. The lamp is neon, it does not get hot and it remains muted so as not the ruin the work it illuminates. The title of the work, the name of the author, and a commentary are illuminated at the top of each cubicle. At the very top of the entire unit are texts explaining the theme and selection of objects in a given group of cubicles. The size of each cubicle is 62 x 62 cm. The plate above each cubicle for the text is 10 cm, and the thickness of the dividers is 0.25 cm. It is proposed that a round aperture surrounded by a concrete barrier be made in the park above the underground archive. Viewers could peer inside and see down below the semi-illuminated display cases and the objects contained in them.

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov

Ilya Kabakov (1933–2023) was one of his country's most successful children's book illustrators until he left the Soviet Union. In addition to this official activity, which was subject to strict censorship-like supervision and served mainly to earn a living, his own artistic works were created unofficially since the 1960s. With them, Kabakov became world famous in the West.

With the exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zug, his early illustrative work was presented exclusively in Europe for the first time after the museum tour in Japan. On display were numerous books and around three hundred original designs by the artist from his own collection. Kabakov set up the exhibition, which itself became an installation-based artistic work. In contrast to the West, children's literature was also highly valued by adults in the Soviet Union. Well-known visual artists and authors have therefore dealt with this genre. Kabakov's own concept of art was always strongly influenced by this externally determined work situation in the Soviet Union.

His works seek dialogue with the diverse viewers. The exhibition of children's books can therefore be understood in many ways: as a "festival" of imaginative drawing as well as a complex, ambiguous world of representation behind which human longings are hidden. The striking amount of white in his drawings gives the imagination a free space in the midst of the given pictorial world.

On the occasion of the exhibition, a five-hundred-page, richly illustrated catalogue raisonné of his artist's books, designed by Ilya Kabakov, was published by Kerber Verlag.

The book has played a central role in Ilya Kabakov's work from the very beginning. Initially working successfully as a children's book illustrator in the Soviet Union, he developed his pictorial artistic activity from books. It has always remained an indispensable companion for Kabakov. On the one hand, new projects are presented in it, and on the other hand, they are documented in this medium after they have been realized. The book not only accompanies Kabakov's pictorial work, it has also always played a central role for him in terms of visual art. As always with Kabakov, art practice and discourse cannot be separated here. This also applies to this catalogue of oeuvres, which also proves to be a paradoxical construction – a scholarly catalogue and an artist's book, and thus in turn a component of the oeuvre it summarises. At the same time, it is part and whole.

The publication was published on the occasion of the exhibition "Ilya Kabakov – ORBIS PICTUS. The Children's Book Illustrator as a Social Figure", which took place from 21 March to 20 June 2010 at the Kunsthaus Zug.

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Project title: Ilya Kabakov, Artist Books, 1958-2009, Catalogue Raisonné Editor: Matthias Haldemann / Kunsthaus Zug Conceptual design: Ilya Kabakov Design: Ilya Kabakov, Polina Bazir Introduction: Matthias Haldemann Text: Dialogue with Ilya Kabakov, by Matthias Haldemann Editing: Nicole Seeberger, Marco Obrist, Matthias Haldemann Editorial Staff: Marco Obrist, Emilia Kabakov, Monika Kümin Published by: Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Leipzig, Berlin, 2010 ISBN: 978-3-86678-372-0

In 1985, Ilya Kabakov stood with friends in a forest near Moscow and ceremoniously cut a ribbon. For example, he symbolically opened the exhibition at the Bern Kunsthalle, his first in the West. Even though he had not been allowed to travel himself, he was now "officially" considered an artist. Switzerland subsequently remained an important point of reference for Ilya Kabakov, where he found patrons and friendships grew. This development is reflected in the local collections, from which the exhibition "I begin to forget" was drawn. On display were paintings from 1965 to 2010, including large-format major works from the seventies and the 14-part series "Collage of Spaces" (2010). In these oil paintings, supposed scraps of Soviet propaganda painting plunge into black abysses, as if unpleasant memories could finally be disposed of. In addition, there were his style-defining albums, leporellos and the first installation shown in the West, "Concerto for a Fly (Chamber Music)". From a private collection in Zug there are also a number of works on paper by the Russian avant-garde (Kasimir Malevich, El Lissitzky and others), with which Kabakov alias Charles Rosenthal has been dealing with in a humorous manner for some time.

Today, the perception of Ilya Kabakov is paradoxical. On the one hand, he was considered one of the most important artists of the present day until his death in 2023. This is not least because the unofficial art of the Soviet Union subsequently found its way into the art history of the West through him. On the other hand, we dare to say: Nevertheless, Ilya Kabakov is still underestimated. In their narrative attitude, the pictures are accessible, although they always carry the question: Who painted here for whom, when and where, and why?

Ilya (d. 2023) and Emilia Kabakov from New York are no strangers to the region after several collaborations with Kunsthaus Zug. They came back to Zug in 2016 for the participation project "The Ship of Tolerance". In a difficult global political situation and especially against the backdrop of the global refugee problem, the internationally renowned artist couple from the former Soviet Union wanted to connect people from different continents and cultures through the language of art – a project that the Kunsthaus Zug and all partners involved willingly supported. The basic idea of Ilya & Emilia was to build a wooden ship for Lake Zug, which would be flagged with around 120 sailing pictures painted by participants on the theme of tolerance. In total, around 2500 people were involved in the project. As a collaborative effort, "The Ship of Tolerance" became both the epitome and monumental symbol of tolerance, openness and respect. The work was intended to encourage its observers to think and at the same time reminded them of Noah's Ark. It was intended to stimulate discussions, bring together different cultures and connect different countries and continents around the world, where "The Ship of Tolerance" was realised before and after (it was started in Siwa, Egypt, in 2005). In this way, the project in Zug was integrated into an international network. Detailed information as well as an overview of the previous locations can be found on the website of the Ilya & Emilia Kabakov Foundation: ↗https://shipoftolerance.org/

As part of the project in Zug, more than 117 classes of public and private schools from the canton of Zug discussed and dealt with the topic of tolerance in the classroom. Together with the art education team, led by Sandra Winiger, and over 50 volunteers from a wide variety of social contexts, children, young people and adults visualized their messages of tolerance and respect in painted sail pictures. In these workshops, held in June 2016, more than 940 sailing pictures were created. In a next step, 120 of these painted sails were assembled to form the ship's sail, while the remaining 800 or so sail pictures were curated for various locations, as they were also to be exhibited at the same time as the finished "Ship of Tolerance". In August, the ship was built in the port by the English Kabakov crew, together with unemployed people from the GGZ@Work (non-profit society Zug) and trainee carpenters from Zug.

The opening ceremony took place on 10 September 2016 on the Zug lakeside promenade (below the Rössliwiese). By means of a pneumatic crane, the ship was launched on a pontoon. At this "Festival of Tolerance", moderated by Sandra Winiger, Emilia Kabakov spoke about the fact that children – the main victims of intolerance and violence by adults – are the focus. Dolfi Müller (Mayor of the City), Dr. Matthias Haldemann (Director of the Kunsthaus Zug), Princess Alia Al Senussi (Ambassador of Tolerance, London) and the children from the Guthirt school also spoke. The colourful sailing pictures were prominently displayed throughout the city – at the Kunsthaus, on the Kolin, Post and Bahnhofplatz, at the government building, on the Alpenquai and at the Schützenmatte – as well as in the Villette Park in Cham and in the other municipalities of the canton. The Kunsthaus Zug mobil, located on the Alpenquai, served as the information centre.

The following day, the ship sailed to Cham for the inauguration of the sculpture "Once Upon a Time (Ship Totem)" by New York artist Marko Remec in Villette Park. Remec, a friend of Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, created this work especially for «The Ship of Tolerance» project in Zug. Georges Helfenstein (Mayor of the Municipality) and Dr. Richard T. Meier (President of the Zuger Kunstgesellschaft) gave speeches. A performance by the dancer Neopost Foofwa took place on water and land. In the evening, talented young musicians from all over the world played the Ship of Tolerance concert in the Lorenzsaal, which was attended by Stephan Schleiss (Cantonal Councillor) and Emilia Kabakov. The concert was organized by the Kabakov Foundation, in cooperation with the Kunsthaus Zug. Together with the children's traditional dance group Ägerital, Schwyzerörgeli and accordion students from the Cham Music School and the Stärne Choir, Stars and Young Voices from the Unterägeri Music School, they were on stage, creating a unique fusion of classical music and folk music, traditional costume and dance from near and far.

After that, the ship returned to Zug, where it anchored until 13 October. On a Sunday evening, a vigil was held to commemorate the dead children, women and men who lost their lives while fleeing to Europe. For weeks, many activities of the partners followed, such as the "Table of Tolerance" at Podium 41 in Cham. This project, a cooperation between GGZ@Work with Ilya & Emilia Kabakov and the Kunsthaus Zug, combined lunches with various well-known guests who talked about their experiences with tolerance and respect.

By invitation, "The Ship of Tolerance" was presented as a special show at the Zug trade fair in the port area in autumn. The 80,000 visitors to the fair were now able to take a close look at the ship's sail and board the ship for the first time. As part of the fair, a panel discussion took place with Dolfi Müller (mayor), Samir (filmmaker), Marco Meier (moderator) and Dr. Matthias Haldemann (director of the Kunsthaus Zug).

After that, the "Ship of Tolerance" was stationed for five years in the Brüggli area on the shores of Lake Zug, where it was used for various events (e.g. further sailing painting sessions) and enjoyed great popularity. On September 25, 2021, a big party took place to celebrate the finissage of the project. The Kunsthaus Zug and the association "FRW Intercultural Dialogue" invited everyone to bring specialties from their own country for an intercultural culinary "share". Emilia Kabakov was connected via Zoom from Dallas.

"The Ship of Tolerance" by Zug received international attention: the "Financial Times" and the "Washington Post" reported on the work, and images reached over a million clicks from all over the world on social media. An illustration was recently published in a Japanese textbook. The participation project is captured in a documentary by Remo Hegglin.

In gratitude for the major project in Zug, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov donated the installation "Toilet in the Corner" (2002) to the Kunsthaus Zug.

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Photographers: Jorit Aust, Oliver Baer, Daniel Hegglin, Remo Hegglin, Jens Krauer, Luis Eduardo Martinez Fuentes, Angela Nussbaumer, Peter Raiman, Hans Schiess.

Ilya Kabakov is one of the most important representatives of installation art. He realized his first site-related works in his secret studio in Moscow and could only show them to his friends. After his emigration to the West, he was given the opportunity to realize installations in exhibitions in Bern, New York, Paris, etc., and now to expand the first ideas from Moscow into a "world of his own" of fantasy with his wife Emilia. Starting with the shabby rooms of fictitious Soviet residents, the spectrum of installations extends to the "utopian city" that was temporarily built in the Grand Palais in Paris. In Zug, the "Drinking Fountain" is located in front of the train station and provides travellers with fresh spring water. This sculpture is also an installation, as the environment is consciously included with the people.

The third volume of the catalogue raisonné of installations, edited by Matthias Haldemann and the Kunsthaus Zug on behalf of the Kabakovs, is a scholarly catalogue of over 40 works, but also a work of art. Ilya Kabakov conceived the design. That is why it is also one of his many artist's books, the complete index of which was also edited by Matthias Haldemann and the Kunsthaus Zug. Typical of the art of the Kabakovs, everything belongs together with everything else. One leads to the other and is always seen and understood differently, is "real" and "fictitious".

In this catalogue raisonné, Ilya Kabakov has once again expressed himself theoretically about his art of installation in a long text. In addition, the artist couple talks about the "secret" of their collaboration.

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Project title: Ilya Kabakov, Installations 1983–2017, Catalogue Raisonné, Volume III, 2000–2017. Editor: Matthias Haldemann / Kunsthaus Zug Conceptual design: Ilya Kabakov Design: Ilya Kabakov, Polina Bazir Texts: Ilya Kabakov, Matthias Haldemann, Robert Storr Editing: Isabelle Zürcher, Emilia Kabakov Editors: Matthias Haldemann, Emilia Kabakov, Matthew Jesse Jackson, Jill Silverman Published: Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Berlin, 2017 ISBN: 978-3-7356-0364-7

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Kunsthaus Zug showed the expansive installation "THE LAST STROKE or The Monument to the Last Man" (2019) by the American artist couple Ilya and Emilia Kabakov. As part of the group exhibition "DIVERSITY UNITED: Contemporary Art from Europe", the installation was first exhibited in Berlin at Tempelhof Airport and then in Moscow. (See the publication: "DIVERSITY UNITED: Contemporary Art from Europe. Moscow. Berlin. Paris.», ed. by Walter Smerling, Cologne, Wienand Verlag, 2021.) At short notice, because of the war, the installation in Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery had to be dismantled; she found her way to Zug via Helsinki. It was opened at the Kunsthaus Zug on International Museum Day under the motto "The Power of Museums". On this day, children's pictures from workshops with Ukrainian refugees at the Kunsthaus Zug and children's pictures from Ukraine, in the presence of Emilia Kabakov, were also exhibited.

In «THE LAST STROKE or The Monument to the Last Man», a small boat, along with its rowers, finds itself in a threatening position: the person seems to be rowing with full physical effort, but his legs and the boat have already been caught by the raging water and have disappeared under the surface of the water – equally the viewer of the work is gripped by a sense of urgency. Will man and boat be completely swept down by the high wave in the next moment? The boat's situation seems almost hopeless. But there is still hope. On the one hand, man fights resolutely with all his might against the fate that threatens him, on the other hand, five small angelic figures circle around the dramatic scene as figures of light. In the history of mankind so far, resilience has triumphed. Hope remains.

The work was donated by the artist couple to the Kunsthaus Zug.