With Vier Grosse Geister by German artist Thomas Schütte, Fondation Beyeler presents a new project of contemporary art in the public space. Starting in Zurich, it will be shown in three further cities in Switzerland during summer and through fall. The project is part of the upcoming exhibition “Thomas Schütte”, which the museum will present from 6 October 2013. Curator of the public space art project Vier Grosse Geister is Theodora Vischer, senior curator at the Fondation Beyeler.

Thomas Schütte’s group of Vier Grosse Geister is made up of four figural sculptures. The figures call to mind heavy-footed golems, bulging Michelin Men or misshapen mascots, and trigger a range of associations. He embarked on these sculptures in the mid-1990s. Initially small in scale, furnished with various utensils and arranged in scenarios, Schütte’s spirit figures quickly evolved into monumental sculptures reminiscent of human figures, which the artist cast in steel, bronze and aluminum and installed singly or in groups. The present exhibit emerged out of this process.