Continuing its venerable history of thought-provoking exhibitions by some of the most promising artists working today, Kunsthalle Basel announces its spring/summer 2016 exhibition program. Zhana Ivanova, Marina Pinsky, Sam Lewitt, Yngve Holen, and Anne Imhof will have their first solo appearances in Switzerland, each including new productions, extending Kunsthalle Basel’s commitment to both emerging artists and exceptional figures whose practices deserve greater visibility.
Zhana Ivanova: Ongoing Retrospective (Chapter 2)
January 22–February 4
Opening: January 21, 7pm
This is the second chapter of an ongoing project that reverses the typical nature of the retrospective, since not only is the Bulgarian performance artist Zhana Ivanova (b. 1977) at the beginning of her career, but, for the exhibition, we are looking forward instead of backward: exhibitions will be staged chapter by chapter, for years to come (as long as Kunsthalle Basel’s current director remains in place), creating a retrospective that takes form over time. For this chapter, Ivanova will restage her very first performance piece, Borrowed Splendour, from 2007. Supported by Fiorucci Art Trust.
Marina Pinsky: Dyed Channel
January 22–April 10
Opening: January 21, 7pm
Taking Basel and its pharmaceutical history as a central subject, the Russian-born artist Marina Pinsky (b. 1986) creates an oneiric landscape of new works for her first institutional solo show in Switzerland and her largest show to date. She uses historical examples of product branding to explore the politics behind objects and images of them, combining these with aspects of daily life in Basel to create what could be called a kind of photography through other means.
Sam Lewitt: More Heat Than Light
April 1–May 29
Opening: March 31, 7pm
Minimal in form and conceptually dense, More Heat Than Light by the US-American artist Sam Lewitt (b. 1981) includes a range of sculptures, texts, and images that take the concepts of flexibility and enclosure as a departure point. By converting the light in Kunsthalle Basel into heat and tracking the energy that each visitor carries, Lewitt stages a confrontation between the physical properties of heat and light. This is Lewitt’s first institutional solo show in Europe, and it is co-organized with the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco.
Yngve Holen
May 13–August 7
Opening: May 12, 7pm
In his largest institutional show to date, the Norwegian-German artist Yngve Holen (b. 1982) offers up a proposition for a solo show that is also a group show in which the artist gathers together his own new and recent productions alongside a selection of works by other artists.
Anne Imhof: Angst
June 10–August 21
Opening: June 9, 7pm
The German artist Anne Imhof (b. 1978), recent winner of the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2015, presents an audacious new production that combines her interest in performance, drawing, sculpture, and installation with a live element that will last for the duration of the exhibition.
For further information and image requests, please contact press [at] kunsthallebasel.ch.
