This cooperation dates back to 2009 when Prof. Dr. Hans Thomsen was invited to view the collection of Nō masks at the museum storage. Since then students and teachers of the department of East Asian art history at the University of Zurich have become frequent guests in St. Gallen, both in the museum’s exhibition halls and its storages.
A graduate of the KGOA, nowadays a curator of the Asian department, Ms. Jeanne Egloff has taught courses for the students with integrated study trips to the museum in St. Gallen on the exhibition planning and curating. During these courses, students worked with original artifacts, helping to create descriptions for the museum’s online database. Students also work regularly as volunteer assistants to research objects from the extensive Asian collection.
In 2014-2015 an exhibition “Fliessende Welt. Verborgene Schönheit: Schätze aus Japan” was shown at the St. Gallen Historical and Ethnological Museum. A group of advanced students of the KGOA was engaged in preparation of the catalogue entries for the accompanying publication.