Maria Loboda

Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, view on Raw Material Coming from Heaven, 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, view on Mrs. Van Hopper, 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, view on Note the Incendiary Weapon on the Left Ledge of the Third Gate, 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, view on Note the Incendiary Weapon on the Left Ledge of the Third Gate, 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, view on Two Idiots Engaged in a Game of Chess, 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, installation view, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, view on Young Warrior in the Landscape Watching the Birds Go By (Pastoral), 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Maria Loboda, poster of the exhibition, Havoc in the Heavenly Kingdom, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Design: Dan Solbach

Exhibition text and related events (PDF)
Press images (ZIP)

Wandernde Kübel, art – Das Kunstmagazin (02/2017)
Chaos und Verwüstung im himmlischen Königreich
, Radio X (02/2017)
Ein Affenkönig zu Besuch in der Kunsthalle, barfi.ch (02/2017)
Verwüstung im himmlischen Königreich
, Badische Zeitung (03/2017)
«Kleine Gesten können Imperien zu Fall bringen»
, Basler Zeitung (03/2017)
Around Town: Basel, Frieze (05/2017)

Maria Loboda (b. 1979) has made a specialty of digging into obscure histories—and inventing them too. The artist’s installations sit at the intersection of intrigue, fiction, the esoteric, and archaeological research, nearly always departing from a seemingly overlooked detail that she renders central, fantastical, and always unforgettable.