To mark the end of its 125th anniversary, the Bündner Kunstmuseum is making a powerful statement: It is dedicating a comprehensive memorial exhibition to Daniel Spoerri, the pioneer of Eat Art and one of the most important representatives of post-war art. In keeping with the theme of the annual exhibition of the regional art scene - "à table" - the museum is focusing on the artist who shaped the combination of food, object art and everyday culture like no other.
Spoerri, who died in 2023, wrote art history with his iconic "Fallen Pictures". On seemingly frozen tablescapes, he captured the accidental, the fleeting, the past - moments of a banquet that he transformed into sculptural duration. His works are as much observations of life as they are humorous commentaries on the art world. As a co-founder of the Nouveaux Réalistes group, Spoerri was in close contact with Yves Klein, Arman, César, Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle; together they pushed the boundaries of what art can be.
Daniel Spoerri "When all the arts perish..." Bündner Art Museum
But Spoerri's work extends far beyond his trap pictures. He discovered his passion for cooking at an early age. The opening of the Galerie J restaurant in Paris in 1960 marked the beginning of a lifelong exploration of culinary art as a cultural and artistic act. His restaurant in Düsseldorf, founded in 1968, quickly became a meeting place for the international avant-garde; just two years later, he opened the legendary Eat-Art Gallery above it - a laboratory in which food, identity, ritual and object art merged into new forms.
The Bündner Kunstmuseum is the only museum in Switzerland to dedicate its own memorial exhibition to Spoerri - a special tribute, as Spoerri himself lived in Cabbiolo in Misox between 2002 and 2004 and is represented by numerous works in the museum's own collection. The exhibition brings together central works from several creative phases, supplemented by films, photos and documents that make Spoerri's artistic way of thinking impressively comprehensible.
Curated by Stephan Kunz and Dr. Sabine Kaufmann, a multifaceted portrait emerges of an artist who redefined the relationship between art and life, between table and stage, between chance and composition. A worthy conclusion to the anniversary year - and an invitation to rediscover Spoerri's poetic and provocative world with all your senses.
December 14, 2025 to March 22, 2026
www.buendner-kunstmuseum.ch
