2018 exhibition program

PerformanceProcess. New Swiss Performance Now
January 19–February 18, 2018
Opening: Thursday, January 18
Symposium on performance: January 26–27

Focusing on the most recent generation of Swiss artists working with performance, this live exhibition features ongoing and discrete events by Claudia Comte, Florian Graf, Raphael Hefti, Balz Isler, Florence Jung, Sophie Jung, Stefan Karrer, Ariane Koch & Sarina Scheidegger, Nils Amadeus Lange, Jérôme Leuba, Marta Margnetti, Lou Masduraud & Antoine Bellini, Garrett Nelson, Oppressed by Privilege / Privileged by Oppression, Ernestyna Orlowska, Mai-Thu Perret, PRICE (Mathias Ringgenberg), Lea Rüegg & Raphaela Grolimund, Romy Rüegger, Yves Scherer, Steven Schoch, Ramaya Tegegne, and Johannes Willi, among others, with scenography by Hannah Weinberger.

New Swiss Performance Now is generously supported by Division of Cultural Affairs, Canton of Basel-Stadt, Jubiläumsstiftung der Schweizerischen Mobiliar Genossenschaft, and Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council, and it is conceived in the context of PerformanceProcess a cooperation between Museum Tinguely, Kaserne Basel, and Kunsthalle Basel, in partnership with Centre culturel suisse Paris.

Yuri Ancarani: Sculture
February 9–April 29, 2018
Opening: Thursday, February 8

As the first exhibition to survey the filmic work of Yuri Ancarani (*1972), this panorama of the Italian artist’s output from 2010 to the present reveals the meticulous precision, distinctive aesthetics, and even sculptural depth to films that critically explore masculinity, labor, and social codes.

With the support of the Italian Council and in collaboration with Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. 

Michael E. Smith
March 2–May 21, 2018
Opening: Thursday, March 1

Michael E. Smith (*1977) works with discarded things, resonant with the accumulated traces of their existence, and transformed through the simplest of gestures into captivating, uncannily sentient sculptures. For his first solo exhibition in Switzerland, the Detroit-born artist creates new works that expand his peculiar archaeology of humanity in the 21st century.

Raphaela Vogel
May 18–August 12, 2018
Opening: Thursday, May 17

Raphaela Vogel’s pulsating videos often feature the artist herself (*1988) as she negotiates both her body and technology; the footage is then projected from weighty readymade objects poised in precarious balance. The German artist’s new monumental installation comprising video, massive steel elements, and splayed animal skins expands her vocabulary and unfurls a dystopian world.

Luke Willis Thompson
June 8–August 19, 2018
Opening: Thursday, June 7

Questions of race, representation, and the body as a locus of political inquiry recur in the films, performances, and installations of Luke Willis Thompson (*1988). Making works of sober elegance as he tackles the traumatic legacies of race and class, the New Zealand-born artist presents his first solo exhibition in Switzerland that addresses these urgent themes for our present.

Zhana Ivanova: Ongoing Retrospective (Chapter 3)
August 31–September 16, 2018
Opening: Thursday, August 30

In this, the third chapter of an accruing “retrospective” in reverse, Zhana Ivanova (*1977) resumes her investigation of conditions in which unspoken social and power relations play out. The Bulgarian-born artist presents a newly commissioned performative constellation comprised of a script, film, and live components.

This, past, and future chapters are realized with the kind support of Fiorucci Art Trust. 

Sanya Kantarovsky
August 31–November 11, 2018
Opening: Thursday, August 30

The lush, moody paintings of Sanya Kantarovsky (*1982) combine wry humor and the silhouettes of contemporary characters with the acrid hues and stylistic inflections reminiscent of painter Paul Gauguin. Here, a selection of new and recent paintings set the scene for the premiere of the Russian-born artist’s new animation film, his largest cinematic venture to date.

Tania Pérez Córdova
October 26, 2018–January 6, 2019
Opening: Thursday, October 25

Tania Pérez Córdova (*1979) makes an art of turning ordinary materials with their intricate backstories into conceptual sculptures. In her first institutional solo show in Europe, the Mexican artist mines language and time, and questions distinctions between original and copy, to create a body of newly commissioned works.

Kunsthalle Basel
Dynamic, rigorous, and accessible, Kunsthalle Basel is a place for audacious art and exhibitions by emerging artists. Established in 1872 by the Basler Kunstverein (Basel Art Association), Kunsthalle Basel is renowned for its nearly 150 year history of engaging with pioneering practices in contemporary art.

For further information and image requests, please contact press@kunsthallebasel.ch.