General information

Opening hours
wed–sun 11am–6pm (during exhibitions)
free entry

Access
CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel
Rue des Moulins 37
CH–2000 Neuchâtel

link (google maps)

CAN is located in the pedestrian zone of Neuchâtel’s historic city centre. It is a 10-15 minute walk from the SBB station, and there is a pay car park nearby (Parking du Seyon).

The reception and main areas are accessible by lift and stairs. The lift and toilets are large enough to accommodate a wheelchair user, but do not meet official standards. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information.

Commented tour
We’d be delighted to give you a personal commented tour. Visits for schools are free of charge and adapted on request. For more information, please contact us.

Contact
info@can.ch
+41327240160

Operation

Office

Martin Jakob
Sylvie Linder
Magali Pexa
Nicolas Raufaste
Liza Trottet
Sebastian Verdon

Committee

Fabian Boschung
Chri Frautschi
Maria Guta
François Jaques
Colin Raynal
Kyung Roh Bannwart (President)
Matthias Sohr

Collaborators

David Ashby
Bruno Blancpatin
Nicolas Eigenheer
Simone N. Filippo
Tristan Gigon
Noémie Gygax
Laurent Perez
Virginie Ribaux
Nicolas Soguel
Leo Stephen Torgoff

About

The CAN Centre d’art Neuchâtel is run by the non-profit association of the same name. It is made up of an office, a committee and ordinary members. The office is the executive body of the association. It is composed of artists, curators and technicians, responsible for the program and working collectively as an horizontal organization. The office shares the common tasks of the art center so as to meet the requirements for the production of contemporary art exhibits, as well as the public mediation. The artistic, technical, practical decisions and salaries, are made together.

History
CAN first took shape in 1995 at the instigation of impassioned, energetic personalities like Jean-Pierre Huguet, Joël von Allmen, Marc-Olivier Wahler, Ivo Zanetti, Jérôme Brandt, and Sven de Coulon, to name just a few. From the outset, CAN offered a great number of exhibitions and events in which artists from Switzerland and abroad took part. Today, a number of those same artists find themselves at the forefront of the art scene, and there is no doubt that CAN has played a decisive role in their careers and at the crucial moment when those careers were just taking off. Over the years, CAN has become a benchmark, an art venue that serves as a point of reference. Besides the artists, the exhibition curators have likewise played an important role in the art center’s success. Alongside Jean-Pierre Huguet, who directed CAN until his death in late 2006, and Marc-Olivier Wahler, who served as the center’s art director until 2000, a number of well-known figures have passed through there, including Annemarie Reichen, Jean-Christophe Blaser, Gauthier Huber, and Eveline Notter.

In 2008 a new team took charge of the center’s future and direction. Since then CAN has been managed by a new association. At first directed by Arthur de Pury, Massimiliano Baldassarri, and Marie Villemin, who were joined by Marie Léa Zwahlen and Julian Thompson, and later Martin Widmer (replacing Massimiliano Baldassarri) and finally Sylvie Linder. In 2018, big changes were made within the team and a new office was formed comprised of Sylvie Linder, Magali Pexa, Julian Thompson, joined by Martin Jakob, Nicolas Raufaste and Sebastian Verdon. In 2020, Liza Trottet joined the office (replacing Julian Thompson).

The center’s administration is supported by the committee of the association, which is made up of artists and art historians, as well as around one hundred active members of the association. To attend to the indispensable connections with the political authorities and the foundations and art patrons that provide financial support to CAN, the association appointed a director. However, during the restructuring of the team in 2018, a joint decision between the office and committee went a step further by eliminating the role of director, a coherent decision in regards to the desired horizontal structure.

The new CAN office is composed of artists, curators and technicians, each participating, in accordance with their capabilities, in the everyday activities needed to run an art center: communications, administration, accounting, photography, reception, care-taking, graphic design, web site, construction, transports, cleaning, etc. This type of operation is often considered a waste of time and effort, but the CAN intends to value an “optimisation of flow” that is more human than entrepreneurial.

Since 2008, the new team as well as the next one in 2018, wanted to continue along the same creative and experimental lines originally laid down by the art center, all while increasing the program’s frequency. The aim of this frenetic rhythm was to work against routine taking hold, which would be unfavourable to the constant renewing of the issues and questions at work in contemporary art, for which a certain risk-taking has always been indispensable. In recent years CAN has indeed increased the number of exhibition strategies, wanting to experience the different ways of producing and presenting the art of today, from the most personal to the most monumental. Along with the center’s events and exhibitions, the team has also developed its publishing activities. The center has thus brought out several books, artist editions and vinyl albums, all considered separate projects in their own right and all displaying a strong dose of originality.

For more than 25 years, CAN has continuously explored and questioned the latest trends in contemporary art, and has thus forged for itself a solid international reputation on today’s art scene. Over five hundred events (exhibitions, performances, screenings, concerts, talks, round-table discussions) have been held, in which over one thousand four hundred artists from the world over have participated. The center continues to have multiple objectives in its sights, i.e., offer artists an experimental space for novel works of art, serve as platform for local artists, and become a privileged meeting point with the public.