Performance Process

New Swiss Performance Now

Oppressed by Privilege / Privileged by Oppression, Aufstand der Privilegierten, 2018, New
Swiss Performance Now
, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Zlatko Micic

Raphael Hefti, We are not one way trip to mars people, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Ramaya Tegegne, Version #17: Annie Sprinkle, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Lou Masduraud & Antoine Bellini, Active Substances, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Kunsthalle Basel

Lea Rüegg & Raphaela Grolimund, reich und schön und kunst, episode 1–3, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Ernestyna Orlowska, God Is A Girl, Extended Version: Night Time Is the Right Time, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Yves Scherer, Nail Care, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Jérôme Leuba, battlefeld #132, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Jérôme Leuba, battlefield #130, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Jérôme Leuba

Nils Amadeus Lange, Despicabe, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Balz Isler, untold but seen, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Kunsthalle Basel

PRICE (Mathias Ringgenberg), Where Do You Wanna Go Today (Variations), 2017, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Kunsthalle Basel

Claudia Comte, Hot Saw – Electric Power, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Nicolas Gysin

Garrett Nelson, Blind Audition, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Ignacio Fanti

Stefan Karrer, HORIZON_X, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, 2018, Kunsthalle Basel, Photo: Bianca Pedrina

Florian Graf, Healer, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, 2018, Photo: Florian Graf

Johannes Willi, Yypfyffe, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Mai-Thu Perret, Figures, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Sophie Jung, Paramount VS Tantamount, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle
Basel, 2018. Photo: Dominik Asche / Kunsthalle Basel

Steven Schoch, FEED #5, 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2018. Photo: Kunsthalle Basel

Marta Margnetti, Dispositivo di protezione (protective device), 2018, New Swiss Performance Now, 2018, Photo: Kunsthalle Basel

Poster of the exhibition, New Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Design: Dan Solbach

Exhibition text and related events (PDF)
Performance times (PDF)
Press Images (ZIP)

Punk in der Kunsthalle!, Radio X (02/2018)
Oppressed by Privilege / Privileged by Oppression – s/t, Artnoir (02/2018)
Blind Audition with Garrett Nelson and Richie Shazam
, Elephant (02/2018)
Die Clique als Performance
, TagesWoche (02/2018)
Das Schreien verlernt, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (02/2018)
Raphael Hefti: We are not one way trip to mars people / Performance at Kunsthalle Basel
, VernissageTV (02/2018)
Claudia Comte: Hot Saw – Electric Power / Kunsthalle Basel, VernissageTV (02/2018)
Jérôme Leuba: Battlefield #132 / Performance at Kunsthalle Basel, VernissageTV (01/2018)
Ums Geld geht’s gratis
, Badische Zeitung (01/2018)
Die Aura der Anwesenheit, Badische Zeitung (01/2018(01/2018)
Immer schön saufreundlich
, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (01/2018)
Frau Filipovic, was soll eigentlich Performancekunst?, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (01/2018)
Auf zum Schlussstreich!
, Programmzeitung (01/2018)
«Kunst der Stunde»: Performance ist angekommen, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (09/2017)
Müde Supermänner zum Jubiläum, Telebasel (09/2017)
Im Labor, Basler Zeitung (09/2017)

Continuing its tradition of showcasing emerging artists, Kunsthalle Basel’s New Swiss Performance Now concentrates on a new generation of artists who use performance in their practice. Bringing together both artists regularly making performance art and visual artists who use the medium when it best expresses an idea, the show is conceived as a “live exhibition” in which no documentation, scripts, props, or other traces of performances will be exhibited. Instead, for one month, and within special opening hours, numerous performances and a vibrant program of ephemeral actions and events unfold on the upper floor of Kunsthalle Basel. Presenting newly commissioned and recent pieces that range from the spectacular to the almost imperceptible, the selected artists draw on techniques from theater, dance, installation, or film to make their fleeting, situation-oriented actions. Expanding on the incredibly rich history of performance art in Switzerland—so well documented and presented by this exceptional multi-institutional collaboration—Kunsthalle Basel’s program emphasizes the form’s vitality in the new and the now.

The exhibition’s duration is framed by two of Basel’s liveliest cultural events: It begins on January 19, 2018, with the 18th edition of Basel Museums Night (with more than thirty-five participating museums and institutions), and it ends with a grand finale on the night of February 18, 2018 and carries into the wee hours of February 19, when all of Basel turns off its lights at 4 am for the Morgestraich, the ritual beginning of carnival, the city’s own “collective performance.”

With Claudia Comte, Florian Graf, Raphael Hefti, Balz Isler, Florence Jung, Sophie Jung, Stefan Karrer, Ariane Koch & Sarina Scheidegger, Nils Amadeus Lange, Jérôme Leuba, Marta Margnetti, Lou Masduraud & Antoine Bellini, Garrett Nelson, Oppressed by Privilege / Privileged by Oppression, Ernestyna Orlowska, Mai-Thu Perret, PRICE (Mathias Ringgenberg), Lea Rüegg & Raphaela Grolimund, Romy Rüegger, Yves Scherer, Steven Schoch, Ramaya Tegegne, Hannah Weinberger, Johannes Willi. Find here the artists’ biographies.

Curated by Elena Filipovic and Renate Wagner.

The exhibition New Swiss Performance Now is generously supported by Division of Cultural Affairs, Canton of Basel-Stadt, Jubiläumsstiftung der Schweizerischen Mobiliar Genossenschaft, and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.