Publications by Migros Commitment

Do you have a great idea that you will take us forward as a society? This handbook helps bold minds to implement their pioneering ideas and shows how to plan a project effectively right from the start, through to the end. The Migros Pioneer Fund offers its experience derived from 100 projects that it has supported, and this handbook sets out some practical tools, tips and tricks. The handbook is full of encouragement, and is an energy-booster and advisor all in one. 

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«Potential Worlds: Planetary Memories & Eco-Fictions» is concerned with the ecological crisis that the world currently finds itself in. The main emphasis is to foster a rethink in our relationship with nature, natural resources, and with all life upon this earth. It is time to change our thinking about coexistence, supported by post humanist approaches and technological progress. The catalogue covers 36 artistic positions concerned with the forms of man’s (co-)existence with nature, and using the role of art as a technological, scientific and social experimental field.  

The catalogue was published to accompany the wide-ranging exhibitions «Potential Worlds 1 : Planetary Memories & Eco-Fictions» and «Potential Worlds 2: Eco-Fictions» held at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (7 March - 11 October 2020 and 24 October 2020 to 9 May 2021). 

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For decades the issue of how people arriving in Switzerland can find their place in society has been a central topic of political debate. Between 2012 and 2019 contakt-citoyenneté sponsored many social engagement initiatives concerned with migration and integration. This document explains the most significant results achieved during the seven years that the funding programme was running.  

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The «Freiwilligen-Monitor» (Volunteers’ Monitor) is supported by the Swiss Society for the Common Good (SGG), Migros Culture Percentage, the Beisheim Foundation, and 30 partner organisations. 

The «Freiwilligen-Monitor» presents the latest figures on voluntary work undertaken in Switzerland. Six  out of 10 people regularly volunteer for charitable organisations within the community. And in fact, seven out of 10 people occasionally offer help to neighbours - not just in an emergency such as the Coronavirus pandemic. 

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An explorative study conducted by Migros Culture Percentage. 

Not every elderly person can rely on the support and sense of duty from members of their family. More than 8% of pensioners in Switzerland grow old without the support of family members. Who are these people? Who supports them when they need help in their daily lives as they grow old? 

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A consortium consisting of nine funding trusts and organisations has commissioned the study by FHNW. 

This November 2019 study focuses on pensioner households. It examines the way in which changes in health in old age can affect individual budgets. For the first time a study is supplying realistic figures for all the principal canton locations. This examination of spending is important because older people are themselves bearing many of the costs inflicted by the need for care in old age. That has a direct effect on their disposable incomes. 

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Now more than ever, older people require good care. Now, because as a vulnerable group they are forced to stay at home. And because social contact is just as important for them as shopping. And distanced conversations about their anxieties and hopes, their sorrows and their consolations are essential. The Coronavirus crisis can open our eyes to the importance of good care in old age. This guide to good care in old age explains what good care actually means and in which areas of activity it can be found. Migros Culture Percentage is a co-publisher of this guide.

Download as PDF (free of charge, in German) 

Each year, the culture brands year book presents current cultural sponsorship projects to the German-speaking area. Migros Culture Percentage featured in the culture brands 2020 year book with various articles on Migros’ social responsibility, future co-existence, and scouting for funding projects.

Download as PDF (free of charge, in German) 

A new study shows that early support for recently arrived young people and young adults is a benefit for them, for society, and for the economy. Investment into rapid access to education would save tens of millions every year. The study was carried out by the SFM at the University of Neuchâtel in collaboration with BSS Economic Consultants. Six trusts and Migros Culture Percentage commissioned the study in 2017. 

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The anthology analyses the diverse and multi-layered cohesion between art and HIV/AIDS from the 1980s to now. It discusses both the blurred boundaries of art production and HIV/AIDs related activism, and the artists who define this (art-historical) debate even today. The publication follows the thematic structure of the exhibition and has curated views from the past and the present day. Reprints of essays by Douglas Crimp (1980), Alexander García Düttmann (1993), and Elisabeth Lebocivi (2017), along with a new essay by Ted Kerr, open up a wide perspective to the discussion and social confrontation with AIDS.  

The publication was published to accompany a comprehensive group exhibition United by AIDS – An Exhibition about Loss, Remembrance, Activism and Art in Response to HIV/AIDS  at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (31 August - 10 November 2019).

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The new guide drawn up by Migros Culture Percentage and the specialist unit for Kultur inklusiv with Sensability, gives guidance on what is needed to create a barrier-free cultural visit - from accessible pre-visit information, accessibility aids to the event, to ensuring that visitors have a trouble-free journey home. We drew up the guide in collaboration with experts with and without disabilities. The accessible PDF «Ein hindernisfreier Kulturbesuch» can be downloaded free of charge (in German). 

With its publication Producing Futures - A Book on Post-Cyber-Feminisms the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst is dedicated to the feminist concerns of the post-internet era.  While the cyber-feminists of the 1990s focused on establishing cyberspace as a place of freedom and empowerment by making targeted use of communication and networking options, the hope today needs to be subjected to a critical review. The publication gathers current views from people such as Joanna Walsh (2019), Yvonne Volkart (2019) and Paul B. Preciado (2016), whose theories supplement a photographic insight into the exhibition. 

The book was published to accompany a comprehensive group exhibition Producing Futures – An Exhibition on Post-Cyber-Feminisms at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (16 February to 12 May 2019). 

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On 29 March 2019 well-known sociologist  Hartmut Rosa accepted an invitation from Migros Culture Percentage and, at a public event at the Kosmos House of Culture, explained his theory of resonance and the extent to which it fosters the good life. During the evening, communications designer André Sandmann tried to capture the most essential insights in visual form. 

The evening’s lecture is available in its entirety as a video recording on YouTube. 

Watch on YouTube (in German)

Written by Jakub Samochowiec from the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage. 

Traditional voluntary work is becoming increasingly unpopular in our multi-option society. What effect does this have on the role of civil society? The study entitled «The new volunteers», commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage examines this question and formulates the framework for future civil society engagement.  

86 pages, soft cover, Rüschlikon, 2018 
Languages: German, French, English 

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A history of clubs and associations in Switzerland. 

Publisher: Cornelia Hürzeler on behalf of Migros Culture Percentage. 

Author: Beatrice Schumacher, Zurich, 2017.

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More information

In this orientation framework for early childhood education, the promotion of creativity and cultural activity are important keys to holistic education and development in early childhood.  The focus publication "Aesthetic Education & Cultural Participation - Right From the Start!" published by the Netzwerk Kinderbetreuung Schweiz in cooperation with the Bern University of the Arts and Migros Culture Percentage explores the question of how the necessary framework conditions for high-quality creativity promotion in early childhood can be created - across institutional boundaries.   
Order the print version for Fr. 20.00 plus p&p or Download (free of charge – available in German, French and Italian). 

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Cooperation between municipalities and clubs/associations: a cost-benefit analysis in ten Swiss municipalities. 
Download as PDF (free of charge)

192 pages, flap paperback, 16 photos 
October 2016, Limmatverlag, Zurich and Migros Culture Percentage 
Book: Fr.19.50, €19.50 / eBook: Fr.15.90 
The publication is also openly accessible online at www.timeisnow.ch. 

The book about the Swiss pop scene, filled with fascinating stories, profiles, conversations and analyses. The publication reflects the situation in Swiss pop music while also looking at the challenges of digital media. 

Includes a detailed appendix containing data, facts, and figures. 

With articles by Christoph Fellmann, Carole Gröflin, Ane Hebeisen, Martina Kammermann, Hanspeter Künzler, Lena Rittmeyer, Christophe Schenk, Adrian Schräder and Renzo Wellinger. 

Order as book or as ebook (in German) 

Dominik Landwehr (Publisher.) commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage 
Edition Digital Culture 4 
October 2016, 252 pages, of which 35 mainly colour illustrations, paperback, 11 x 18 cm, German / English 
Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 
Retail price Fr.20.- / €18.- 
Also published as an eBook 

Children and young people today are connected to digital networks, and are on the move with their smartphones or tablets. In just two decades digitalisation has created a huge variety of creative tools, whether in video, audio, computer games or programming. How do children and young people deal with these in their daily lives? 

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A new decentralisation technology is putting all our institutions into question. 

Publication date: 16 June 2016 

A spectre is roaming the world - the spectre of the blockchain. It is going to change transactions in the same way that the Internet changed the way we communicate. And thus, the world as we know it. 

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More bit-sense: A first look at the post-digital age 

Publication date: 17 March 2016 

The post-digital era is making data sensual – and opening up entirely new markets. 

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The 400 most influential thought leaders in the world. 

Publication date: 3 December 2015 

New - now with 2015 / 2016 rankings for German, Spanish and Chinese. Names, dates and ideas of 203 pace-setters of the global conversation. 

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Ideal times for experimentation. How commerce can be fit for the future. 

Publication date: 19 September 2015 

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In coming years digitalisation will turn the entire retail industry on its head,  opening up many fresh opportunities. 

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Dominik Landwehr (Publisher.) commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage 
Edition Digital Culture 3 
October 2015, 300 pages, 40 illustrations, German / English 
Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 
Retail price Fr.20.- / €15.- 
ISBN 978-3-85616-657-1 
Also published as an eBook 

70 years after the death of an author their works become public intellectual property. Digitalisation has given these works a new dynamic. The third volume in the Edition Digital Culture series deals with the copyright challenges of the public domain for cultural institutions. 

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The publication is dedicated to motifs from video games, TV series, films, and cartoons. Articles by Esther Buss, Raphael Gygax, Judith Welter and Alexander R. Galloway critically question pop aesthetics and the promise of an «innocent» and playful universe of childlike fantasy, thus contrasting the reality of neoliberal advertising and marketing strategies. With illustrations of art works from the «Toys Redux – On Play and Critique» group exhibition at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst the publication expands on the subject with adoptions of pop culture formats and visual worlds  

The publication was published to accompany the comprehensive group exhibition «Toys Redux – On Play and Critique» at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (30th May - 16th August 2015). 

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These days, IT systems are safer than people. Why autopilots, care robots, and self-driving cars are better for us. 

Publication date: 11 June 2015 

These days, when in doubt, there is good reason to trust an algorithm rather than a person. And the more complex the world about us becomes, the greater the leap of faith becomes. We examine how trust can be forged in the relationship between people, machines, robots and programs, and who benefits from it. 

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Forget everything you have ever heard about digitalisation. We tell you what it really means for you. And the opportunities it offers. 

Publication date: 12 March 2015 

In the coming decades digitalisation will affect every area of the economy and society and will revolutionise it so dramatically that we could be talking about a new era: the digital age. In the midst of this unstoppable, but controllable movement, we take a look at the long-term economic and social perspectives, and at our scope for action. 

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2nd edition, revised 2014 

A guideline for evaluating cultural projects, programmes, strategies, and institutions 

Anne-Catherine De Perrot, Tina Wodiunig 

In a joint publication, the Migros Culture Percentage and the Swiss culture foundation Pro Helvetia are making a contribution to quality assurance in cultural institutions and projects. Using practical examples, the guideline entitled «Evaluation in culture:  why, what, when and how?» provides the knowledge needed to carry out an evaluation. It is aimed at cultural mediators, event organisers, sponsors, and culture promoters, and can be obtained free of charge. Available in German and French (PDF version). 

Download as PDF (free of charge, in German) 

Free order of the guide through admin_kult@mgb.ch 

The ones who bring us new ideas. And which ones will become reality. 

Publication date: 4 December 2014 

The top 100 global thought leaders of 2014. We gauge whose ideas are sparking today’s debates, and thus making a mark on tomorrow’s world. And we have examined how a new reality emerges from new ideas. 

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Migros Culture Percentage (publisher) 
November 2014, 64 pages 
Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund, Zürich 
Retail price: Fr.20.- 
ISBN 978-3-033-04749-5 

Two surveys by Migros Culture Percentage indicate the high value placed on culture by the Swiss people. The results gave us grounds to reflect on a «culture of promoting culture». What role should private culture promoters take in society? The overwhelming majority of the population (79%) responded that commercial companies should not renegue on their responsibility. They must engage and not simply leave it all to the state. What does that mean for the future of culture promotion and the Migros Culture Percentage? 

Download as PDF (free of charge, in German)

Dominik Landwehr (Publisher.) commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage 
Edition Digital Culture 2 
October 2014, 260 pages, 77 illustrations, German / English 
Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 
Retail price Fr.20.- / €15.- 
ISBN 978-3-85616-642-7 

Hackers are breaking the systems and changing the rules. And art is fascinated by it. With examples from etoy, UBERMORGEN.COM and !Mediengruppe Bitnik together with articles by Raffael Dörig, Hannes Gassert, Verena Kuni, Felix Stalder and Claus Pias. The book is published by Dominik Landwehr and commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage, and appeared at the beginning of October 2014. 

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Dematerialisation 

Publication date: 11 September 2014 

Consumers are getting wise. They want sustainability and are finding great sustainable products. They are dematerialising not just the economy, but also growing the share economy, and they want a different sort of luxury -  this publication shows that we do not have to show off. 

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Franziska Dürr (publisher) commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage 
GiM - generations in the museum 
2014, format 17 x 22 cm, 4-colour, many illustrations, 184 pages 
Hier und Jetzt Verlag, Baden 
Retail price Fr.29.- 
ISBN 978-3-03919-343-1 

More than 30 museums in Switzerland took part in the «GiM – Generations in the Museum» project. They invited people from different generations to make up stories about selected objects, and enter into an unusual exchange. «At Eye Level»  («Auf Augenhöhe») documents this with illustrations providing an in-depth insight into the project, enhanced by articles by experts and practitioners. The vernissage was held at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst on 17 September 2014. 

Download as PDF (free of charge, in German)

The predictions are getting increasingly accurate. And what should we do with them? As a human being? As a manager? As a machine? 

Publication date: 12 June 2014 

Predictions are getting increasingly accurate thanks to High Tech and Big Data. We can predict the future better and perhaps also influence it better. But do better predictions result in better decisions? And actually, how can we achieve better decisions? 

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How growing polarisation is changing markets and society. And how you can benefit from it. 

Publication date: 8 March 2014 

Around the world and in the centre of Europe political and social unrest is increasing. And we are triggering ever more extremes. It is clear that we cannot continue in this way - but what can we do? We present some routes out of the dilemma. 

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Dominik Landwehr (Publisher.) commissioned by Migros Culture Percentage 
Edition Digital Culture 1 / Christoph Wachter & Mathias Jud 
Publication date: 12 September 2013 
Single copy: Fr.35.– / € 27.– (VAT inclusive, excluding P&P) 
ISBN 978-3-85616-609-0 
Also published as an eBook 

What is the relationship between art and politics? Can the concerns of politics be combined with the concerns of art? Where are the possibilities and limits of electronic media in the conflict between art and politics? The first volume in the «Edition Digital Culture» series examines these questions on several levels. 

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Elfriede Czurda / Friederike Kretzen / Suzann-Viola Renninger (publisher) 
Abstraction at home or an introduction to fluctuating happiness 
March 2014, 37 entries, 160 pages, paperback, cover made of printed sandpaper 
Fr.28.–, €28.– 
ISBN 978-3-85791-736-3 

Was it just that easy? But which order was the same? Perplexity levels are high. 37 authors plunge with glee into disorder, the unknown, the unnamed. They juggle with Borges’ «Chinese encyclopaedia», delve into «derelict patterns» and «words that belong to the author», rewrite the old encyclopaedia with a «very small camelhair brush» to an order that in our eyes is not order, but which in truth merely renounces the greater context. Anyone who engages with this «Handbook of Perplexity» enters the «collapsing spaces of possibility». Everything here is «reeling» – as in the rest of the world. 

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Migros Culture Percentage / Wirth, Uwe, (Publisher) 
December 2013. 400 pages, 15 x 23 cm, paperback 
Volume 4 in the «Paths of Cultural Research» series 
Kulturverlag Kadmos 
€29.80 
ISBN 978-3-86599-175-1 

In recent decades the term framework has undergone cycles in a wide variety of contexts - in anthropology and sociology as context-sensitive frameworks for action (Goffman), in theatre studies as staging frameworks (Fischer-Lichte), in literary circles as paratextual frameworking (Genette), in linguistics as cognitive representation frameworks or as script (Minsky) and not forgetting, in the arts as picture frames (Stoichita). 

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Migros Culture Percentage / Roger Perret (publisher) 
An anthology by Roger Perret 
640 pages, 40 illustrations, some in full colour 
Fr.58.―, €58.― 
ISBN 978-3-85791-726-4 

113 years of poetry. This anthology reflects poetical creativity in Switzerland in the twentieth century and now. The modern poetry genre began in Switzerland around 1900 with a woman who remains almost unknown to this day - Constance Schwartzlin-Berberat, and it also starts with Blaise Cendrars, Robert Walser and Adolf Wölfli.  

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Who are we? If so, how many?  

With the end of the «Hyper Me» era, it’s time for the «We» to undergo a renaissance. Not mandated from above, but growing from below – from an individual’s social relationships. Can such «We-dentities» hold society together where the cohesive powers of the modern state are flagging. 

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Publication date: June 2013 

«The medium is the message.» This now legendary statement by Marshall McLuhan was made nearly 50 years ago. Because in the post-Gutenberg era, the channels over which a message is sent are not more important than the message itself. For the media industry this means a deep-seated structural change - from channel managers to those who produce the messages. In seven theses, GDI Impuls describes how this change might take place - and where new opportunities may be found for companies both inside and outside the media industry up to this day. 

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Migros-Kulturprozent / Dominik Landwehr, Verena Kuni (publisher) 
Do-it-yourself: Microscopes, sensors, sonification 
Do-it-yourself: Microscopes, sensors, sound experiments 
May 2013, 200 pages, 16 x 23 cm, approx. 220 colour illustrations, paperback 
German/English 
Price: Fr.26.00 / €19.00 
ISBN 978-3-85616-567-3 

• Six simple projects to build and experiment with 
• For biology enthusiasts and electronics hobbyists and anyone with a curious mind 

«Science for all» is the motto of a new movement that deals with biology and electronics. It transfers the do-it-yourself method that has long been established in the electronics and computer scene, to the field of natural sciences. 

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Publication date: 11 March 2013 

The huge amounts of data constantly produced by people, machines and devices cause some to dream of a planning heaven, while for others it creates a nightmare vision of the end of a life of self-determination. But where are the usable products? GDI Impuls tests the data and analyses where useful output can be obtained from apparently unmanageable input, and where it cannot. 

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This book is worth two fortunes! 

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The future of production 

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Migros-Kulturprozent / Uwe Wirth, Veronika Sellier (publisher) 

Moving in the space in between - terms, backgrounds, examples 

June 2012, 404 pages, 15 x 23 cm, paperback 
Kulturverlag Kadmos 
Volume 3 in the «Paths of Cultural Research» series  
€49.80 
ISBN: 978-3-86599-170-6 

It can be established that when reflecting on different spatial concepts, from the home, the territory, through to the abstract concept of «representation space», the aspect of the space in between as a material or imaginary boundary plays a crucial role - whether that be the doorstep to a house, or a rite of passage - whether that be the gap or the post-colonial space in between. 

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Freedom – safety. Science – romance. Networking – leadership. Conflicts are the new perspectives. If you know how to use them you will succeed. 

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Migros-Kulturprozent / Dominik Landwehr (publisher) 
Projects promoted by Migros Culture Percentage 
October 2011, 1 DVD, 45 Minutes, with a booklet in three languages, 83 pages 
Original version / subtitles: German, French, English 
Price: Fr.21.00 / €14.00 
ISBN 978-3-85616-537-6 

Four pioneering projects in media arts 

• From sculptures, politics, myths and a sound signature for Switzerland 
• Projects by etoy, Norient, Knowbotic Research and Politools 

With their «Tamatar» project the media arts pioneers at etoy demonstrate that digital art can be expressed with sculptures too. In «Sonic Traces from Switzerland» members of the Norient network seek a sound signature for Switzerland. Blending the boundaries between biology, art and society the members of «Knowbotic Research» venture into the mythical world between man and beast. Lastly, the aim of the «my-Vote» internet project by the Politools association, is to get 18 to 24 year olds interested in politics and voting. 

Available at selected bookshops.

The economists are working out how people behave. What does that mean for us? 

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The world is getting more complex. But, thanks to mapping and apping, not more complicated. It no longer moves round the sun, but around the individual. What does that do to us? 

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This beautifully illustrated 2008 collection volume provides exciting insights into the collection at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst. The collection at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst collection goes back to the 1950s with an initiative by Migros Founder Gottlieb Duttweiler. This publication provides an overview of the key pieces in the collection up to 2008, consisting of works by international and Swiss artists such as Art & Language, Maurizio Cattelan, Christopher Wool, Katharina Sieverding, Rachel Harrison, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Christoph Büchel, Paul Thek and Douglas Gordon. The detailed visual documentation is accompanied by several in-depth essays. 

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