Best Basel Exhibitions: Marc Rembold, Mika Rottenberg, and More

During the latest edition of Art Basel, dynamic exhibitions are unveiled in the city illuminating the magnificent oeuvres of Marc Rembold, Mika Rottenberg, and more. 

60 Works by Marc Rembold

Laleh June Galerie

June 10 — June 15, 2024

Picassoplatz 4, 4052 Basel, Switzerland 

“60 Works by Marc Rembold,” or “sixty projects,” is a radiant journey through distinguished artist Marc Rembold’s exploration of reality and fantasy—where all is constant flux. The exhibition displays multi-faceted works, from the sculptural Mirror series to the hypnotic Fantastical Architecture series, allowing visitors multiple entry points into the luminary’s boundless imagination. 

Gold Glow (2017), a circular mirror of gold on metal is a textured work of art which blurs all reflections for a dreamlike and transformational encounter. The Pure Pigment Series (2023) utilizes vibrant primary colors of red, yellow, and blue; colored ink printed on paper submerges viewers in an otherworldly affair of emotion and eden. 

What we love: “60 Works by Marc Rembold” rejoices in the visionary’s 9th solo presentation with the premier gallery, offering an enduring and captivating dialogue between artist and audience.

Mika Rottenberg: Antimatter Factory

Museum Tinguely

June 5 — November 3, 2024

Paul Sacher-Anlage 1, 4058 Basel, Switzerland

Currently on display at Museum Tinguely is revered artist Mika Rottenberg’s “Antimatter Factory,” an immersive and whimsical voyage through video works and installations which reveal the vast paradoxes of capitalist production. Curated by Roland Wetzel, and assisted by Tabea Panizzi, the show is set aglow with prismatic color, forms, and textures, deftly capturing a shared, global experience with signature edge. 

A new foot-shaped fountain sculpture sparks vital conversation in the museum’s lush park, while eye-catching sculptures of reclaimed plastic and natural materials, as well as experiential works in motion, delve into the concept of antimatter, human exploitation, and any given object’s inherent magic. Pivotal works range from 2003 to 2024, including feature film REMOTE (2022); created by the artist during the COVID19 pandemic alongside filmmaker and writer Mahyad Tousi, the skillful piece imagines a future world where physical and the digital realms unite in surreal fashion. 

What we love: “Antimatter Factory” marks one of the most far-reaching presentations of Mika Rottenberg’s magnetic oeuvre, investigating the nuanced contemporary relationship between humans and machines.

Rewilding

Kunsthaus Baselland

April 13 — August 18, 2024

Helsinki-Strasse 5, 4142 Münchenstein, Switzerland

On the momentous occasion of Kunsthaus Baselland’s new location on the Dreispitz, a deep meditation on the intricate past, present, and future unfolds beside an array of masterful creatives in “Rewilding.” The vivacious group exhibition invokes an explorative book titled Rewilding by Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe, a work of urgency in safeguarding humanity and our fragile environment. In the spirit of renewal and refreshment from land to sea, the presentation presents fertile ground for jubilant creative growth. Powerful themes of peace, harmony, and longevity dazzle throughout diverse works by a mainly female group of visionaries including Monira Al Qadiri, Andrea Bowers, Naama Tsabar, Daniela Kesier, Anne-Lise Coste, Gabrielle Goliath, Laura Mietrup, Jacob Ott, Anna Winteler, and more. 

“‘Rewilding’ means two things in the context of the inaugural exhibition,” said Ines Goldbach, Director of Kunsthaus Baselland.”For one thing, it means providing a new haven for the vibrant creative energies that the Kunsthaus has nurtured since its founding and that it intends to continue cultivating in its new setting. And yet it also means revisiting a dynamic in a place that was once closely tied to the circulation of goods and is now, as a building, part of a significant urban transformation.” 

What we love: The female-centric presenters span generations and global locales for a sweeping look at universal injustice and responsibility, offering critical moments of reflection and opportunities for connection with each other and Mother Nature’s bounty. 

Here There and Back Again

Nicolas Krupp Gallery

May 4 — June 29, 2024

Rosentalstrasse 28, 4058 Basel, Switzerland

Curated by Anne Mosseri-Marlio, “Here There and Back Again” spotlights essential artworks created after World War II by contemporary artists with significant connection to Japan. With meaningful threads of personal encounters and commentaries sparked by history, a myriad of works on paper, paintings, and sculptures ranging from 1964 to 2024 offer extraordinary insights from 11 forward-thinking artists. 

Yamazaki Tsuruko (1925 – 2019) and Onoda Minoru (1937 – 2008) of the Gutai Art Association followed the guiding principle “to do what has never been done before,” and joyful freedom of color and form abound. Mishima Kimiyo (b.1932) infused dedication to the environment and consideration of economic growth in Japan through poetic ceramic sculptures and paintings collaged uniquely with newsprint and advertisements. 

What we love: Recently developed tondo and square paintings by Mochizuka Miki (b.1974) are sensorial passageways through time and space, using layer upon layer of rich color and mesmeric floral patterns to unearth kaleidoscopic memories and waves of empathetic new thought.