Ungestalt

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, view on Joachim Bandau, Fingerbank, 1970, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Thomas Fischer, Berlin; Galerie Mark Müller, Zurich. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, view on Adrián Villar Rojas, Untitled (from the series Rinascimento), 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy the artist; kurimanzutto, Mexico City; Marian Goodman Gallery, London, Paris, New York. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Pakui Hardware

Installation view, Ungestalt, view on Pakui Hardware, Hesitant Hand, 2017, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy Pakui Hardware and Exile Gallery, Berlin. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, view on Olga Balema, Appetite, 2017 (front), and the gift of tears, 2017 (back), Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Courtesy the artist; Croy Nielsen, Vienna; Hannah Hoffmann, Los Angeles. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Installation view, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Photo: Philipp Hänger/Kunsthalle Basel

Posters for the exhibition, Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, 2017. Design: Hammer

 

Tomo Savić-Gecan, Untitled, 2007-2017
The value of the artwork is the artwork; the value is in a constant state of devaluation, from the moment the exhibition begins until its closure, at which point the artwork will be worth nothing.

Exhibition text and related events (PDF)
Press Images

Antikunst aus aller Welt – Das Schöne im Hässlichen: «Ungestalt», Basler Zeitung (05/2017)
«Qualität heisst in der Kunst auch, dass sie verrückt machen oder nerven kann», Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (05/2017)
«Ungestalt» – Woran erkennt man Kunst?, Badische Zeitung (05/2017)
Was bedeutet «Ungestalt»?, Radio X (05/2017)
Peculiar Things Are Afoot at the Kunsthalle Basel, Art News (06/2017)
Ungestalt, ArtReview (10/2017)

Ungestalt, a somewhat untranslatable German term, not exactly formless or amorphous, nevertheless describes something that struggles against delineation, against clearly defined form, indeed against the wholeness suggested by “Gestalt.” Maybe something that both is a form and at the same time undoes that form comes the closest to this term that itself escapes capture. Taken as the starting point for a group show, Ungestalt brings together an ensemble of works from artists of different generations, each of whom has responded to their moment with works that, no matter their medium, court material, perceptual, or conceptual volatility.

The group show is spread across the five ground floor galleries of Kunsthalle Basel. Artists include 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 among others, who will show new and existing works.

Caroline Achaintre, *1969 in Toulouse (FR), lives and works in London

Olga Balema, *1984 in Lviv (UKR), lives and works in Berlin and New York (USA)

Joachim Bandau, *1936 in Cologne (DE), lives and works in Aachen (DE) and Stäfa (CH)

Trisha Donnelly, *1974 in San Francisco (USA), lives and works in Dusseldorf (DE) and New York (USA)

Marcel Duchamp, *1887 in Blainville-Crevon (FR) and died in 1968 in Neuilly-sur-Seine (FR)

Michaela Eichwald, *1967 in Cologne (DE), lives and works in Berlin

Pakui Hardware: Neringa Černiauskaitė, *1984 in Klaipėda (LTU) and Ugnius Gelguda, *1977 in Vilnius, both live and work in Berlin and Vilnius

Florence Jung, *1984 in Fort-de-France (FR), lives and works in Biel/Bienne (CH)

Eric N. Mack, *1987 in Columbia (USA), lives and works in New York (USA)

Liz Magor, *1948 in Winnipeg (CA), lives and works in Vancouver (CA)

Park McArthur, *1984 in Raleigh (USA), lives and works in New York (USA)

Nathalie Perrin, *1989 in Geneva (CH), lives and works in La Croix sur Lutry (CH)

Tomo Savić-Gecan, *1967 in Zagreb, lives and works in Amsterdam

Lucie Stahl, *1977 in Berlin, lives and works in Berlin

Alina Szapocznikow, *1926 in Kalisz (PL) and died in 1973 in Passy (FR)

Adrián Villar Rojas, *1980 in Rosario (AR), lives and works in Rosario (AR) and New York (USA)

 

We asked the creative minds of Adam Csoka Keller and Evelyn Bencicova (6th Finger Studio) to take inspiration from our exhibition Ungestalt and make a short film that would both represent it and act as an independent object based on their interpretations of it.