OCULA
Art Basel to Make Hopscotch Homage to Lawrence Weiner at 2022 Swiss Fair
The participatory installation 'Out of Sight' is one of over 70 large-scale projects Art Basel announced for their June fair.
By Michael Irwin
10 May 2022
Bold statements will be made at the Swiss edition of Art Basel from 16 to 19 June this year. Out of Sight (2021), a participatory work envisioned by the late New York-based conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner, will sprawl across Basel's Messeplatz.
The floor installation invites viewers to physically engage with positive thinking by moving along a hopscotch grid that incorporates Weiner's hallmark typographic texts. Along this journey, symbolic of life, are statements such as 'one can only imagine the powers that be' and 'spit into the wind and hope for the best.'
Weiner, who passed away in December last year, said of Out of Sight: 'A person coming in with whatever situation they find themselves in, the minute they have any thoughts about themselves going from here to there, they will be able to stand in front of the marelle (French for hopscotch) and realise they first have to imagine themselves doing it, that is, assuming a position.'
Works by Lawrence Weiner can currently be viewed at Lisson Gallery, East Hampton and Marian Goodman, New York.
Art Basel's Unlimited platform will present a further 70 large-scale projects, including a 45-wood panel installation by Barthélémy Toguo, Theaster Gates' mural Hardware Store Painting (2020/2022), Anna Maria Maiolino's two-channel video Twice: X & Y (1974/2022), Stano Filko's immersive Environment S.FILKLINIC.DEATHS.F (2006), Liu Wei's aluminium sculpture Dimension (2021), and a hanging sculpture by Kennedy Yanko.
On 16 June, special performances by Nora Turato and Ari Benjamin Meyers will accompany the inaugural Unlimited Night programme.
Art Basel Unlimited's returning curator, Giovanni Carmine described this year's lineup as a 'polymorphous chorus of artistic voices singing in protest against isolation, loneliness, and indifference.'
Additionally, Art Basel's public Parcours programme will see 20 site-specific artworks and performances presented across the city's old town from 13 to 19 June.
Following the curatorial theme 'How to Grow in Times of Change,' featured works include Anna Hulačová's installation Edible, Beautiful, Untamed (2022), a sculptural installation and performance by Puppies Puppies (Jade Guarano Kuriki-Olivo), and eight new bronze sculptures in Alicja Kwade's ongoing 'Siège Du Monde' series.
Art Basel will also present film screenings at Stadtkino Basel, including the Swiss premiere of Sam Pollard's HBO documentary Black Art: In the Absence of Light (2021) and Conversations with panelists such as Zineb Sedira and Latifa Echakhch, who are representing France and Switzerland at the 59th Venice Biennale.
Altogether, Art Basel in Basel will feature over 289 exhibitors across its Galleries, Feature, Statements, Edition, Unlimited, and Parcours sectors. Newcomers to the fair this year include Galeria RGR (Mexico City), Mariane Ibrahim (Chicago, Paris), and Jahmek Contemporary Art (Luanda).
The full list of participants can be viewed here. —[O]