The now-late, Zurich-based lawyer Peter Bosshard (1942 – 2018) and his wife, Elisabeth, started collecting art in the 1970s. At that time they had just returned to Switzerland after living in New York City for two years. Then came a decades-long engagement with the Swiss contemporary art scene. The collector couple has always supported artists and art projects, and have since amassed roughly 6 500 works of art in their Kunst(Zeug)Haus collection.

In May 2008, the Bosshards opened an art center in a former armory building in the city of Rapperswil-Jona. Zurich architects Isa Stürm and Urs Wolf meticulously transformed the long and bulky structure into a voluminous 1 500-square-meter space, providing enough room for an annually changing exhibit of the collection and eight to twelve dedicated solo shows each year. Alongside established Swiss art stars like Silvia Bächli, Fischli/Weiss, or Roman Signer, the focus is also on younger positions such as Mario Sala or Yves Netzhammer.