Tomma Abts
June 12 - August 28, 2005
Opening: Saturday, June 11, 2005, 7pm
Carl Andre: Black Wholes
Artur Zmijewski
June 16 - August 28, 2005
Opening: Wednesday, June 15, 2005, 7pm
Kunsthalle Basel
Steinenberg 7
CH-4051 Basel
Switzerland
T 41 61 206 99 00
F 41 61 206 99 19
info [at] kunsthallebasel.ch
Opening hours: Tue/Wed/Fri 11am-6pm / Thu 11am-8.30pm / Sat/Sun 11am - 5pm
Opening hours during Art 36 Basel, June 15 - 20, 2005: 10am - 8pm
www.kunsthallebasel.ch
Kunsthalle Basel is delighted to present three exceptional individual exhibitions in the Summer season.
The abstract paintings by Tomma Abts (born 1967) are created as a result of a long process. The strict geometric compositions of the works do not refer to things seen, but develop from the generative logic of the multiple layers of paint. Nevertheless, some figurative references can be recognised, such as mask-like faces, architectural constructions and ornamental patterns. The artist’s work is a balancing act, a constant search for the optimal solution. Each detail and each form in Tomma Abts’ paintings participates in an internal drama where movement, light and shimmering fore- and backgrounds play an important role. Although the paintings can be seen as a series due to their identical format of 38 x 48cm, they are always individual works. This particular quality is additionally underscored by enigmatic titles, such as Obbe, Noene or Ert, which are first names from a particular region. In her choice of titles, the artist makes a phonetic link between the image and the name; at the same time this act of naming gives the work a portrait-like character. In the Oberlichtsaal of the Kunsthalle, Tomma Abts will show a selection of paintings and drawings. This is the first large institutional exhibition of works by Tomma Abts since her exhibition last year at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven with Vincent Fecteau.
A catalogue in German and English will follow the exhibition.
The American artist Carl Andre (born 1935) is one of the main representatives of Minimal Art. He makes floor sculptures of units of different materials: metal plates, timber blocks and bricks, such as the 1960s series Equivalents, each part of which consists of 120 bricks in different arrangements. Andre has entered a dialogue with the conventional concept of sculpture in a unique way. For him, a sculpture is always a material reality that challenges the viewer by providing a physical and sensual experience affecting both the viewer and the space where it is located. Andre uses the materials in their elementary, unchanged form, and insists on their inherent sculptural potential. The artist has been similarly preoccupied with language: he takes words or parts of sentences from existing texts, deconstructs their original grammar and syntax, and then uses them as raw material for poetic works of his own. Andre produces his poems by structuring the units of language. He deals with units of matter in a similar way. The Kunsthalle Basel is delighted to be able to present new sculptures by Carl Andre in the ground floor gallery. A catalogue in German and English will follow the exhibition.
The Polish artist Artur Zmijewski (born 1966) confines himself to the media of photography and film. He established his reputation with the photographic series “Eye for an Eye (1998-2000) and the film of the same title. His films are constructed as precise, quasi-documentary mise-en-scenes touching upon a variety of difficult questions in contemporary society. Zmijewski often focuses on people with psychological and/or physical disorders or individuals who have experienced major traumas. The artist seems to take a distanced position. By not imposing an all-too-easy critical framework on the way he introduces his subjects, he allows societys outsiders to articulate their statements with full force. He gives a voice back to those who are not normally allowed to speak for themselves, as in “Singing Lesson 2″ (2002), in which deaf-and-dumb children sang a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach in the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. The Kunsthalle Basel will show a selection of his latest films, which he himself describes as television reports. Artur Zmijewskis latest film production Repetition will be premiered at this years Venice Biennale in the Polish Pavilion, curated by Joanna Mytkowska. The film relates to the famous Stanford Prison Experiment from 1971. The prison installation that was used for the film, produced by the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland, will be part of the exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel.
A comprehensive catalogue in German and English will be co-produced by the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw and Kunsthalle Basel and published by Cantz Velag.
A film programme of the Kunsthalle Basel accompanying the exhibition will be presented at,
STADTKINO BASEL, Klostergasse 5, CH-4051 Basel:
Artur Zmijewski
Repetition, 2005
June 15, 2005, 8 pm
June 23, 2005, 9 pm
June 25, 2005, 5.30 pm
June 30, 2005, 9 pm
June 23. 2005, 9 pm
June 27, 200505, 5.30 pm
For further information please visit our website: www.kunsthallebasel.ch
Images (from left to right):
Tomma Abts, Noeme, 2004, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 38 x 48 cm, Courtesy Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln/Cologne; Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin; greengrassi, London.
Carl Andre, Poem, 2005
Artur Zmijewski, Repetition, 2005, Production still, Courtesy Artur Zmijewski and Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw.
