Art Basel Week 2017: What to See

Outside of the fairs this week, don’t miss the exhibitions on view at Basel’s tops museums and institutions.

FONDATION BEYELER
WOLFGANG TILLMANS
May 28–October 1
Fondation Beyeler will present the work of Wolfgang Tillmans this summer, marking the museum’s first comprehensive photography show. More than 200 photos and an audiovisual installation will be on view, ranging from portrait, to landscape, to still life, and even abstract works, dating from 1989 to 2017. The artist gained attention in the 1990s for capturing his generation, and has since further experimented with the genre of photography.

MUSEUM TINGUELY BASEL
WIM DELVOYE
June 14–January 1, 2018
Museum Tinguely is dedicating a major solo exhibition to the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye in the summer of 2017. In addition to his best-known works, the “Cloaca”—machines that simulate human digestion and produce excrement that is visually indistinguishable from human excrement—the show will feature pieces such as Chantier (1992), a construction site carved entirely out of wood, and the huge Cement Truck (2016) in its original size. The exhibition is realized in collaboration with MUDAM, Luxembourg.

MUSEUM TINGUELY BASEL
JÉRÔME ZONDER “THE DANCING ROOM”
June 7–November 1
To mark the opening of Tinguely’s Mengele-Totentanz (Mengele-Dance of Death, 1986) in the Museum Tinguely’s new exhibition space, the young French artist Jérôme Zonder will rouse the undead with a series of mischievous images snatched from real life. His installation of drawings assembles interpretations of the TV series The Walking Dead—with scenes of violence or the aftermath of accidents and disasters masquerading as innocuous children’s games.

KUNSTHALLE BASEL
“UNGESTALT”
May 19–August 13
This summer the ground floor of Kunsthalle Basel is devoted to a group show entitled “Ungestalt.” The exhibition presents work by Caroline Achaintre, Olga Balema, Joachim Bandau, Trisha Donnelly, Marcel Duchamp, Michaela Eichwald, Pakui Hardware, Florence Jung, Eric N. Mack, Liz Magor, Park McArthur, Nathalie Perrin, Tomo Savić-Gecan, Lucie Stahl, Alina Szapocznikow, and Adrián Villar Rojas. The title of the show can be translated as “struggles against delineation,” which seems appropriate given that the works on view are made from a variety of mediums and by artists of varying generations.

KUNSTHALLE BASEL
YAN XING “DANGEROUS AFTERNOON”
June 2–August 27
Kunsthalle Basel will present the Chinese artist Yan Xing’s first institutional solo show in Switzerland, “Dangerous Afternoon.” The exhibition includes a newly commissioned installation, sculptural elements, filmic works, traces of a performance, and black-and-white photographs that conspire to convey something about the show’s fictive curator, whose fantasy life is the libidinal undercurrent to the project.

VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM
“MONOBLOC: A CHAIR FOR THE WORLD”
March 16–July 9
The Vitra Design Museum is presenting an exhibition devoted to the ubiquitous Monobloc white plastic chair. The affordable everyday seat is found around the world, from gardens to cafés and restaurants. “Monobloc: A Chair for the World” brings together 20 objects that look into the history and cultural repercussions of the popular piece of furniture.

MUSEUM FRIEDER BURDA
SIGMAR POLKE
February 11–June 25
“Sigmar Polke: Alchemy and Arabesque” brings the work of the great German painter back to the Museum Frieder Burda ten years after his major retrospective. Through the presentation of 100 works, curator Helmut Friedel focuses on the artist’s mysterious and painterly lines and patterns, finding his arabesques a point of fascination. Both deliberately and at random, Polke made the lines with tape, templates, paint, and other methods against busy backgrounds, mixed materials, and more.

KUNSTMUSEUM
“¡HOLA PRADO!: TWO COLLECTIONS IN DIALOGUE”
April 8–August 20
“¡Hola Prado!: Two Collections in Dialogue,” curated by Bodo Brinkmann, is the result of a friendly relationship between the Kunstmuseum Basel and the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. In 2015, the Kunstmuseum lent 10 works by Pablo Picasso to the Prado. The Madrid museum returns the favor this summer by lending 26 masterworks from the 15th to 18th centuries for Basel audiences.

KUNSTMUSEUM | NEUBAU
“THE HIDDEN CÉZANNE: FROM SKETCHBOOK TO CANVAS”
June 10–September 24
Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) is recognized as one of the most important painters of the late 19th century. “The Hidden Cézanne: From Sketchbook to Canvas” introduces many viewers to his drawings, an overlooked part of his practice. The museum holds a significant collection of 154 sheets by Cézanne, many of which come from now- disintegrated sketchbooks that have been reconstructed for the show.

KUNSTMUSEUM | GEGENWART
RICHARD SERRA “FILMS AND VIDEOTAPES”
May 20–October 15
Richard Serra is best known for his monumental steel sculptures. “Richard Serra: Films and Videotapes” looks at a lesser known part of the American artist’s practice, his film work which dates back to 1968. Curated by Søren Grammel, the show brings together 16 film and video works, some of which would go on to influence artists like Joan Jonas, Nancy Holt, and Babette Mangolte.

KUNSTMUSEUM | GEGENWART
OTTO FREUNDLICH “COSMIC COMMUNISM”
June 10–September 10
“Cosmic Communism” is curated by Julia Friedrich and looks at the life and work of the artist Otto Freundlich (1878–1943). The story of the artist’s life is compelling, as Freundlich was a victim of persecution, vilification, and eventually murder. The artist’s practice included paintings, sculptures, mosaics, and stained glass, and the show aims to redefine his legacy.

To read more, check out Whitewaller Basel, out this week.