A walk with museum director Monika Jagfeld

The city of St.Gallen has a lot to offer when it comes to contemporary art. Important Swiss artists such as Roman Signer or Pipilotti Rist come from eastern Switzerland, and the art on offer in the city's museums and public spaces leaves nothing to be desired. Together with Monika Jagfeld, director of the Museum im Lagerhaus, we go on the trail of art and cultural diversity in St.Gallen.

This article has been produced in collaboration with Switzerland Tourism and St.Gallen-Lake Constance Tourism.

The warehouse in St.Gallen

The striking building complex a few steps west of the St.Gallen train station is hard to miss. Until the 1980s, this brick superstructure served as a bonded warehouse for the textile industry. Today, culture has moved into this building: In addition to the Kunsthalle St.Gallen, galleries and numerous studios are located here. For example, the creative home of the internationally renowned Riklin brothers, Patrik and Frank Riklin, is also located here.

Monika Jagfeld also goes in and out of the warehouse almost every day. Since 2008, she has been the director of the "Museum im Lagerhaus", named after the building complex. This is the only museum in Switzerland that specializes in Swiss Outsider Art, Art Brut and Naive Art. What these art movements have in common is that their works are created by artists who are outside the professional art world: by amateurs and self-taught artists who have never completed an academic art education. The Museum im Lagerhaus has a collection of over 8000 works by more than 180 artists from this art genre.

Exhibitions in the Museum in the Warehouse

"The Museum im Lagerhaus stands for diversity: diversity in art, but also in society."

Monika Jagfeld, Museum in the Warehouse

Art at every turn

How does the binary clock in St.Gallen work? An instruction manual.
This clock requires mental arithmetic: The circles in the top row stand for the hours, the crosses in the middle for the minutes and the squares at the bottom for the seconds. Read from right to left, the symbols stand for the numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32. Now the task is to add up the illuminated symbols.

Result: The time on the picture is 19:52 and 40 seconds.

The city of St.Gallen is like a big museum. Because as quickly becomes apparent on a walk through the city with Monika Jagfeld: art in St.Gallen does not only take place in the museums and galleries. It is omnipresent in the public space of the city. This is already evident when one arrives at the train station in St.Gallen. Train passengers and commuters are greeted by the binary clock by St.Gallen artist Norbert Möslang. It is a good prelude to what art there is to discover in the city.

"Norbert Möslang's binary watch is very aesthetic, it is a forward-looking watch. It makes us think again about time."

Monika Jagfeld, Museum in the Warehouse

Calatrava marketplace warthall

Not far from the train station on the market square, another master of his trade has left his mark: Santiago Calatrava. The waiting hall on the Bohl (1996) is one of several projects that the star architect has realized in St.Gallen.

The barrel of the offense

On the Oberen Graben in a small park, a rippling barrel sits enthroned on a steel pedestal: the "Fassbrunnen" by Roman Signer. Some 30 years ago, the red barrel caused a lot of red faces and heated debates in St.Gallen. Today, Roman Signer, who was elected toSankt-Galler, is one of the most important contemporary artists in Europe.

"The original barrel of offense is now one of the city's significant landmarks."

Monika Jagfeld, Museum in the Warehouse

The art of enjoyment

Art and culture are also not neglected in the city's coffee houses and restaurants. Not far from the "Museum im Lagerhaus" is the military canteen, where Monika Jagfeld likes to drop in for a coffee now and then. Surrounded by chestnut trees, the timber-framed building, which was constructed around 1900, originally served as officers' quarters. Today, the building is a listed monument, includes a restaurant with hotel and is also used as a cultural event venue.

A park for the arts

The next stop on the walk is the St.Gallen Museum Quarter: here, in addition to the Historical Museum, is also the St.Gallen Art Museum. Opened in 1877, the art museum is one of the oldest museums in Switzerland. The collection includes paintings and sculptures from the late Middle Ages to the present, which are shown in a permanent exhibition. The neoclassical building by architect Johann Christoph Kunkler was built in 1877 and is one of the most important of its kind. The two museums are connected by a beautiful city park, where there is again art to discover: for example by the international artist Richard Serra, but also by the local artist Max Oertli.

Impressions of the Museumsquartier

A red living room in the middle of the city

The last stop on the St.Gallen Art Tour leads to a striking red square: the City Lounge by multimedia artist Pipilotti Rist and architect Carlos Martinez, a large red living room in the middle of the city. Opened in 2005, the square is conceived as a meeting place where the city's residents and guests should feel comfortable and linger.