Beyond the fair: Parcours 2016 in Basel
«What does the individual stand for? What does the body stand for?» It is from these questions that the founder of SALTS – Birsfelden’s non-profit exhibition space – Samuel Leuenberger, has oriented his focus for the seventh edition of Parcours, which will last just for three days from June 13th to 16th and the evening of June 18th. On the occasion of Art Basel, the central Münsterhügel’s neighborhood was turned into a perfect location for 19 great works’ installation, realized by international artists and intended to analyze the relation between the man and his body.
Between the famous artists and the emerging ones, Parcours 2016 exposes: Trisha Baga, Daniel Gustav Cramer, Andrew Dadson, Michael Dine, Jim Dine, Sam Durant, Alberto Garutti, Alfredo Jaar, Hans Josephsohn, Ilya ed Emilia Kabakov, Eva Koťátková, Allan McCollum, Ivan Navarro,Virginia Overton, Tabor Robak, Trace Rose, Bernar Venet, Michael Wang and Lawrence Weiner.
Despite the rain, we were there, and we went through this deep introspective and emotional path, selecting for you a few must-see works!
The Canadian Andrew Dadson has presented Painted Plants, a series of black-painted plants lighted by UV rays, which facilitates them to grow. The green color of the new leaves creates a strong contrast with the dark color, reminds us how nature goes beyond our control, and is the ultimate responsible of what we see and how we see it. The plants underline the importance of a natural landscape within an urban’s context, whereas the paint becomes a metaphor of an environment in constant change.
Basel Antikenmuseum hosts Muscle and Salt, the work expressly conceived by Jim Dine for the museum, the only Swiss structure dedicated to the Mediterranean classical cultures. The installation – which combines poetry and lyric in an immersive dialogue between present and past – starts with a great self-portrait surrounded by wooden Hellenic muses within the four walls, which are covered up with handwritten poem.
Alberto Garutti, in a beautiful private garden open to the public in occasion of Art Basel, has proposes five benches that were commissioned in 2009 by Zegna Foundation of Trivero, at that time part of the project All’aperto. On each bench sits a different dog sculpture, and is inscribed with the phrase “The dog portrayed here belongs to a Trivero family. This work is dedicated to them and so to the people sitting here will talk about it.” The artist intends not just to establish a relationship between the work and the surrounding, but also among the spectators themselves so as to favoring dialogue.
The Chilean Ivan Navarro with Traffic, a mobile consisting of several hanging traffic lights that cyclically change from green to red and then to orange, detaches an everyday common element of an urban context turning it into a new experience.
Another interesting finding was Coasts, a musical installation by Daniel Gustav Cramer who for the first time shared the ocean sounds recorded in various continents, from Europe to Asia to the Southern hemisphere. The architecture of the building that hosted the installation allows each visitor to have an individual experience or – walking in the center of the room –having a “surround” experiences.
The theme with much actuality can be found in the provocative work of Alfred Jaar, The Gift. A curious blue box is given to every visitor: inside the artist tells the dramatic matter of immigration and invites to make a donation to the MOAS “migrant offshore aid station”.
If Basel is the city, par excellence, of the mix of cultures, with a continuous flow between past and present, Parcours 2016 is the perfect opportunity to fully enjoy this exchange … and we recommend you to do so!
