Roman Signer is internationally recognized as one of the most important Swiss artists of today. Fire, water, wind, and earth form the core elements of his work. Through artistic experiments with natural phenomena—both outdoors and indoors—he creates situations that are at once surprising, ironic, and disarmingly simple.

Imagine a space entirely dedicated to him: how would the ideal Signer museum look like? How would the visitors experience it? Would it be accessible at all? Would it even exist in reality or only conceptualized? 

The competition «Signer Museum» invited participants from the fields of architecture and landscape architecture to explore how design can serve as a tool for creating a space to host Signer’s oeuvre. The site could be real or fictional, and the scale entirely open. Proposals might defy gravity or engage with subtle forces such as wind and water. Conventional physical or structural constraints were deliberately set aside, as the Signer Museum is not intended to be built.

Initiated by Thilo Hoffmann Productions, the competition brought together invited participants either personally selected by Signer or chosen for their affinity with his work, including Gion A. Caminada, Daniel Ganz, Günther Vogt, Hans-Jörg and Andreas Ruch together with Giacomo Paravicini, Tilla Theus, Sanchez Morgillo, and studioser (Ofreia & Tiziano Schürch).

The proposals were to be communicated primarily through imagery, using only minimal handwritten text. Only drawings were permitted—whether created with pencil, pen, or crayon.

All projects were shared with Roman Signer and have since become part of Thilo Hoffmann’s personal collection. The exhibition «Signer Museum», currently on show at Thilo Hoffmann Collection in Zürich-Schlieren, displays also some works by Roman Signer himself, including sculptures as well as two drawings.