Renowned Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn is planning a controversial ruins installation inside Bern's historic cathedral as part of the city's upcoming 500th anniversary celebration of the Reformation. The provocative art project, which would transform parts of the 600-year-old Bern Minster into an artificial ruin, represents one of the centerpiece events planned for the milestone religious anniversary in 2028.
The Reformed Church of Bern-Jura-Solothurn is preparing to commemorate February 7, 2028, which marks exactly 500 years since Bern officially adopted the Reformation on February 7, 1528. Rather than treating this as an internal church celebration, religious leaders want to mark the occasion as a broader societal event that extends beyond the religious community.
The church parliament approved a budget of 1.5 million Swiss francs last May for the festivities, which are being organized in partnership with the Bern Reformation Jubilee 2028 association, supported by the Burgergemeinde. Project ideas and sketches are still being collected through mid-November, with two major art projects taking center stage.
Markus Dütschler, co-director of communications for the Reformed Church of Bern-Jura-Solothurn, confirmed that discussions are currently underway with two prominent artists: installation artist Thomas Hirschhorn and writer Lukas Bärfuss. While Bärfuss is developing a social installation project titled "Disputatio 2028," Hirschhorn's concept focuses on the theme of iconoclasm - the religiously motivated destruction of artwork that was central to the Reformation movement.
The 68-year-old Bern native, who has lived in Paris for many years, is one of Switzerland's most internationally acclaimed artists. Hirschhorn was specifically approached by the Minster congregation to create this provocative interpretation of the iconoclastic themes. His installation would undoubtedly place the historical concept of Reformation-era image destruction into a contemporary context.
Hirschhorn is no stranger to controversy. The "Hirschhorn Affair" of 2004 remains unforgotten, when a photo of politician Christoph Blocher was urinated on during a Hirschhorn exhibition at the Centre Culturel Suisse as a protest against what the artist called the absurdity of direct democracy. The incident led Parliament to temporarily cut the budget of the Pro Helvetia cultural foundation by one million francs.
However, Thomas Hirschhorn cannot be reduced to merely a scandal artist who cultivates calculated provocation. For him, art is always an opportunity for participation and communication. According to media spokesperson Dütschler, the Minster project could bear similarities to Hirschhorn's work "Abschlag" (Breakaway), which he exhibited during the 2014 Manifesta festival at the Hermitage Picture Gallery in St. Petersburg.
For that Russian project, Hirschhorn had an entire facade torn open. Visitors to the exposed rooms would discover, only upon closer inspection, an authentic Malevich painting by the famous Russian constructivist - embedded among construction debris and furniture. This approach reflects Hirschhorn's recurring exploration of ruins as a concept, making tangible a state in which hidden things become visible.
The artist views ruins as hierarchy-free places and universal spaces. In a contribution to an exhibition, he once asked whether the universe might have begun through destruction, with a ruin, in chaos. In 2018, he created a massive ruin landscape at Villa Stuck in Munich that extended across three floors, where visitors could also engage in creative activities using the same materials from which the ruin was constructed.
The Bern Reformation Jubilee 2028 association and the Reformed Church emphasize in their statement about the anniversary that we live in times when reorientation and the urgency of reforms are indispensable - a principle that applies to the church but extends far beyond it. For Hirschhorn, making art political also means deliberately moving into public spaces and reaching audiences who typically have no connection to art.
This approach was successfully demonstrated six years ago in the heart of Biel. During the summer of 2019, Hirschhorn built a large installation on Biel's train station square with numerous volunteers, consisting of platforms, tents, spectator stands, and arenas dedicated to Biel-born writer Robert Walser. The square became a living meeting place with a bar, TV studio, and off-space gallery - "a sculpture for a non-exclusive audience" that remained unmissable for three months.
A project of Hirschhorn's magnitude comes with significant costs. Comparable installations by the artist have previously cost around half a million francs, though Dütschler says it's too early to discuss specific figures for the Bern project. Neither signed contracts nor financing arrangements are currently in place. Binding commitments are expected by early 2026, at which point it will be possible to determine whether and how this project can be realized, and with what funding structure.
The prospects for realization appear promising, given that the Minster congregation initiated contact with Hirschhorn and the synod has approved the general program. However, possible protests against the "desecration" of a sacred space cannot be ruled out. The installation, themed around iconoclasm, would certainly be both astonishing and disturbing.
If Thomas Hirschhorn's first ruins project in a church space proceeds as planned, introductory events are being organized to communicate the work's message to a broad audience. The installation would mark a significant moment in both Bern's cultural landscape and the ongoing dialogue between contemporary art and religious tradition.
