One month after being known in that island

Curated by: Yina Jiménez Suriel & Pablo Guardiola
 

The new cultural foundation Kulturstiftung Basel H.Geiger (KBH.G) opens its permanent exhibition space in Basel, Switzerland. 

The first exhibition at KBH.G features 11 artists from across the Caribbean and its cultural diaspora, and has been co-produced with the Caribbean Art Initiative (CAI), a Basel-based not-for-profit organization which promotes Caribbean art and culture worldwide. Entitled One month after being known in that island, the exhibition is curated by Yina Jiménez Suriel (Dominican Republic) and Pablo Guardiola (Puerto Rico). 

The curators were selected through an open call by the CAI in 2019 to serve as the curatorial team for the exhibition. The process reflects CAI’s aim to offer an opportunity to Caribbean curators living or born in the region, with a track record of writing on and curating Caribbean art, to share their perspective on present-day Caribbean artistic production.

Yina and Pablo have brought together an array of artists to explore ideas of a shared Caribbean identity, against a historic backdrop of international treaties, political division, and transfers of power. Works in the exhibition respond to the contemporary political and geographical challenges of the Caribbean and the artists’ own personal realities. 

The exhibition will be on view August 27 through November 15, 2020. Admission is free of charge. An online viewing room will be available from mid-September for those unable to visit in person.

Participating artists are: Elisa Bergel Melo, Minia Biabiany, Christopher Cozier, Tony Cruz Pabón, Sharelly Emanuelson, Nelson Fory Ferreira, Madeline Jiménez Santil, Ramon Miranda Beltran, Tessa Mars, José Morbán, and Guy Régis Jr. 

An exhibition catalogue, published by Hatje Cantz, designed by Marie Lusa, and edited by Alanna Stang, features a joint essay by the curators and interviews with participating artists, as well as newly commissioned writings by Marta Aponte Alsina, the lauded novelist and literary critic, and Rita Indiana, the award-winning singer-songwriter and novelist. As well, Ramiro Chaves has created a limited-edition work based on the behavior of shoals and the idea of place as a “cursive space,” which will be available to purchase alongside the exhibition.

Weekly tours of the exhibition, offered free of charge, will be conducted with the support of the University of Basel. Swiss-Dominican private chef Olivier Bur will lead a family day event offering immersion in Caribbean home cooking. Additional related programming in Basel includes: a monthly Caribbean film program at Stadt Kino Basel; a conference by Makenzy Orcel, the leading young poet and novelist from Haiti, in collaboration with Alliance Française and Société d’études française, Bâle; and a selection of sound interventions, acoustic performances, and DJ sets in the exhibition space, broadcast by Radio X; and a four-part podcast series in collaboration with the Art Institute, FHNW Academy of Art and Design. The series will be part of the Promise No Promises! and highlight female Caribbean voices.

Public events organized concurrently in the Caribbean include Alpha Caribe, a sonic constellation by La Usurpadora co-founders María Isabel Rueda and Mario Alberto Llanos, comprised of songs proposed by eight invited artists, serving as an intercontinental link throughout the Caribbean, its cultural diaspora, and Basel. More will be announced shortly.

The foundation gratefully dedicates this inaugural exhibition to the memory of its patron, Sibylle Permattei Geiger, who passed away just weeks before the exhibition’s opening. This exhibition and the new space in which it is presented honor her life-long commitment to cultural exchange and broad-based access to the arts.