WHO ARE YOU?
Olivier Castel, Martin Soto Climent, Than Hussein Clark, Dorota Gaweda & Eglé Kulbokaité, Selina Grueter & Michele Graf
Curated by Samuel Leuenberger & Elise Lammer
26 Nov – 15 Jan 2017
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Opening: 26 November 2016, 5pm
Press Release
Who Are You? is a group exhibition exploring alter egos, collective identity, meta-artists, improved or lessen versions of oneself: if the fictional artist has often served as a strategy to convey political resistance, artists have never stopped mediating their own image. Today, publicly concealing one’s identity—a real paradox —seems to emphasise that we live in an environment overshadowed by austerity and fear. In this context, a need to test what is often perceived as an “unstable” reality has emerged.
Olivier Castel (born in Paris, lives and works in London) usually presents work under heteronyms and has created over thirty different identities since 2001. Often using ephemeral or temporal forms he works primarily with projections, reflective surfaces, light, text and audio. His work functions as a set of propositions, employing the imaginary and exploring the process by which something is made visible.
Dorota Gawęda (born in Lublin, Poland) and Eglė Kulbokaitė (born in Vilnius, Lithuania) are an artist and writer duo living in Berlin and Basel. Agatha Valkyrie Ice (born in 2014) is a virtual character, an open-ended script, a social-media entity, a live-feed on becoming real and becoming-virtual, an evolution of forms, relations of matter as well as form and the intervals between, a consideration directed towards the idea of post-gender allowing a multiplicity of voices to take part in collective performance. Valkyrie Ice is currently the director of OLSO1O in Basel and has participated in the past in many collaborations including Catherine Prieto Österberg, Rosie Hastings and Hannah Quinlan Anderson, Elin Gonzalez, Gabor Szabo, Manuel Scheiwiller, IFF INC NYC, Adrien Figeac, Zayne Armstrong, Ana Andra, Aaron Ritschard, Luca Iemi, Clémence de la Tour du Pin, Claire Tolan, Zuzanna Ratajczyk, Stefanie Hessler, Sarah Miles, Anastazja Moser, Anne de Boer, Eloise Bonneviot,
Riverside (Bern), newscenario, Orion Facey, O FLUXO, Klára Utke Ács, YGRG, Tariq Hindic, Blunt x Skensved, Daniel iinatti, Lukas von der Gracht, contributors to Agatha Valkyrie Ice soundcloud, WEFINDWILDNESS, etc.
The collaborative practice of Selina Grüter & Michèle Graf (born in Zurich, both live and work in Zurich) extends through various media that are based on performance and their co-involvement with the Zurich-based artists-run space Taylor Macklin. Their work is an ongoing investigation of performance, not only through a social and art historical prism— it’s often based on the involvement of individuals from their immediate surroundings and rethinks the between body and examines the role of the individual within different communities and relationships—but also a formal one, as it materialzes with conceptually-rooted formal elements such as scripts and photographic documentation.
Than Hussein Clark’s (born in the US, lives and works in London and Hamburg) practice explores the histories of design, architecture, and theatre to narrate interogations of queer subjectivity. Arguing that form might follow fiction, Clark articulates objects as characters and exhibitions as dramatic scenarios cast with historical protoganists, literary identities, friends, lovers, and a company of actors the artist has worked with over the last five years. The German actress Laura Schuller (born 1986) is a figure that has played a central role in the artist’s imaginative world; as muse, model, first actress, her image and performances
have become one of the key materials in Clark’s production and his explorations of how emotion, narration, and affect might delimit the production of objects in the present.
Martin Soto Climent (born in Mexico City, lives and works in Mexico City) recently started breaking his practice and identity into several, different personas, each with their own, highly identifiable style. Those artists are neither real nor invented; yet, just like characters in a comedy, they all embody a specific artistic genre. From Mexican graffiti artist Jesus Martinez, or New-York sculptor John Brown, to his imaginary friend Caramel Huysmans, they all contribute to gather a fragmented, yet coherent vision of Soto Climent’s most intimate and instrospective personnality.
SALTS is kindly supported by Swisslos Basel-Landschaft, Fondation Nestlé pour
l’Art, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and Stiftung Roldenfund.
Photos: Gunnar Meier Photography
Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė, Agatha Valkyrie Ice: FREEPORTS, 2016 was
made possible thanks to the generous support of Swisslos-Fonds Basel-Stadt.
WHO ARE YOU?
Olivier Castel, Dorota Gawęda and Eglé Kulbokaité, Selina Grueter and Michèle Graf, Than Hussein Clark, Martin Soto Climent.
Michèle Graf, Than Hussein Clark, Martin Soto Climent.*
01–72
Daniel Gustav Cramer
ALL INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Kasper Sonne
ASSOCIATIONS NEW
Max Brand, Vittorio Brodmann, Beni Bischof, Claudia Comte, Stéphane Dafflon, Armen Eloyan, Athene Galiciadis, Mathis Gasser, Charlotte Herzig, Thomas Jeppe, Jan Kiefer , Victor Korol , John Monteith , Nicolas Party, David Peschka, Guillaume Pilet, Nicholas Pittmann, Ivan Seal, Francisco Sierra, Loredana Sperini, Tobias Spichtig, Henning Strassburger, Stefan Sulzer, Tyra Tingleff
ASSOCIATIONS NEW
Max Brand, Vittorio Brodmann, Beni Bischof, Claudia Comte, Stéphane Dafflon, Armen Eloyan, Athene Galiciadis, Mathis Gasser, Charlotte Herzig, Thomas Jeppe, Jan Kiefer , Victor Korol , John Monteith , Nicolas Party, David Peschka, Guillaume Pilet, Nicholas Pittmann, Ivan Seal, Francisco Sierra, Loredana Sperini, Tobias Spichtig, Henning Strassburger, Stefan Sulzer, Tyra Tingleff
BRANDS – CONCEPT/AFFECT/MODULARITY
Kari Altmann, Florian Auer, David Jablonowski, Pierre Lumineau, Metahaven, Pamela Rosenkranz, Anne de Vries
CLOSER SCRUB
Tyra Tingleff
CONCERT – COMING HOME
CONCERT – ROCK THE SLAUGTHERHOUSE
Minimetal, Me and the Minimes and Teppichmode
CONEY ISLAND
Yves Scherer
DI STIJLLED
Tobias Spichtig
DI STIJLLED
Tobias Spichtig
DI STIJLLED
Tobias Spichtig
EL BUEN VECINO
Sol Calero
GREEN GROWTH
Katja Novitskova
L’AGE D’OR
Pauline Beaudemont
MATTHEW SMITH & YONATAN VINITSKY
MUTANT
Peles Empire
NEUE WELT, VIEW OVER AUTOCENTER
OUTSIDERS
Pedro Wirz
OUTSIDERS
Pedro Wirz
LET'S PLAY
Rusconi & Sara Vidas
PICTURE THIS
Fredrik Værslev
QUITE BLACK ON THE WESTERN FRONT BUT THE SUN IS STILL AT THE HORIZON AND WORRIES ABOUT THE FOAM
MDFA Union: Beni Bischof, Michael Bodenmann, Georg Gatsas, Barbara Signer
SHOW-OFF
Awst&Walther
STEPPING STONE
Frank Altmann, Awst & Walther, Nina Beier, Eva Berendes, Stefan Burger, Martin Soto Climent, Adam Thompson
STRÖME
Gina Folly & Mandla Reuter
THE HOLE
Karsten Födinger
Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries
La Lutte Continue, 2000
read the room/you've got to
Etel Adnan, Kolt Beringer, Harry Burke, Cynthia Cruz, Olivia Dunbar, Andrew Durbin, Ida Ekblad, Heike-Karin Föll, Lauren Gault, Harmony Holiday, Karl Holmqvist, Romain Juan, Joan Naviyuk Kane, John Kelsey, Paul Kneale, Sophie Jung, Sophia Le Fraga, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Garrett Nelson, Collier Nogues, Sophie Nys, Fatuma Osman, Vanessa Place, Lauren Printy Currie, Megan Rooney, Andrew Seguin, Donna Stonecipher, Sue Tompkins, Martina-Sofie Wildberger, Hannah Woo, Lynn Xu
YOUR PALINDROME, HER ABECEDARIUM
THERMAL WELDING
Raphael Hefti
THERMAL WELDING
Raphael Hefti
TO ZANZIBAR FROM ACAPULCO
Claudia Comte & Guillaume Pilet
TO ZANZIBAR FROM ACAPULCO
Claudia Comte & Guillaume Pilet
UNRELIABLE NARRATORS (PART FOR JEREMIAH)
Adina Popescu
WHERE CUCKOOS NEST IN AUTUMN
Marc Bauer, Armen Eloyan, Sara Masüger
WHERE CUCKOOS NEST IN AUTUMN
Marc Bauer, Armen Eloyan, Sara Masüger
COURTESY OF SALTS
Pedro Wirz
"CRUISING - Sylvie Fleury*
DO YOU FEEL THIS SPIRIT OF ETERNITY?
TIC-TAC. TIC-TAC.
I AM FEELING SO HAPPY.
IF I HAD AN UZI, I WOULD EMPTY A MAGAZINE IN THE SKY.
Gilles Furtwängler
FUJI COLOUR GARDEN
Hagar Schmidhalter
Irmão dos homens todos
Mauro Cerqueira and Pedro Wirz
MY GRAVITY SLPPED AWAY Flaka Haliti
MY HISTORY OF FLOW
Lena Henke
OWEN PIPER AND LILI REYNAUD-DEWAR ON HOW TO TALK DIRTY AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
PANORAMA
Nicolas Party
PEACE, LOVE AND HARMONY
Ditte Gantriis
Tending to Motion, with Nik Emch, Jan Kiefer, Sara Vidas
PHILLIP, LUKAS & ISIDORA
Augustas Serapinas
POST COURRIER ART A Presentation organised between HEAD – Genève, Haute École d‘Art et de Design und die Basisklasse Bildende Kunst / Kunsthochschule Kassel.
THE NIGHT HOLDS TERROR
Emanuel Röhss
WORKS OFF PAPER
With: Penny Goring, Lorraine O’Grady, Lady Pink, Arleen Schloss, Martine Syms
Curated by Harry Burke for The Printed Room
WLGTDWI - A PERFORMANCE EVENING
Paul Kneale and Megan Rooney
Double Take, 2015
2008 Toyota Yaris, audio recording, video projection
Dimensions variable
CLUB UNIVERS with
Angèle Siegenthaler, Katharina Kemmerling, Gregory Stäuble, Linda Wunderlin, Dario Zeo, Sebastien Rück, Davide Wouda, Iris Brodbeck, Manuela Cossalter, Laura Mietrup, Aline Stalder, Chris Handberg, Cyril Hübscher, Njomza Sadikaj, Simone Steinegger, Aysa Stettler, Nadine Cueni, Markus Aebersold, Anna Diehl, Ambra Viviani and Manuel Koechli
WHO ARE YOU?
Olivier Castel, Dorota Gawęda and Eglé Kulbokaité, Selina Grueter and Michèle Graf, Than Hussein Clark, Martin Soto Climent.
Michèle Graf, Than Hussein Clark, Martin Soto Climent.*
HONEYBAKED - Jan Kiefer
ZIGZAG INCISIONS with Armando Andrade Tudela, Raven Chacon, Roberto Evangelista, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Alfredo Hubard, Seulgi Lee, Pierre Leguillon, Felipe Mujica, Edit Oderbolz, Blinky Palermo, Tania Pérez Córdova & Francesco Pedraglio, Falke Pisano, Julia Rometti and Jorge Satorre
POCKET - Hanne Lippard. Curated by Harry Burke for The Printed Room
THE LITTLE APOCRYPHA - Emily Mae Smith & Adam Henry
Ho King Man
Stiff Cotton Brain Stone
Installation view, SALTS, 2017
Photo: Gunnar Meier
THE VISITORS - Caroline Mesquita
A FRESH BURN LIKE A DOUBLE TREE - Mélodie Mousset
SOULLESS SKIN - Sarah Margnetti starring Kiki Kogelnik
I Am Our Common Pronoun - Nanna Abell, Sigurđur Ámundason, Josefin Jussi Andersson, Klara Ström &
Hannah Wiker Wikström, Zoe Barcza, Mira Eklund, Artor Jesus Inkerö, Yassine Khaled, Helene Nymann, Eirik Sæther, Vidha Saumya
Infinity has its limits - Kasia Fudakowski, Maria Loboda, Zoe Paul
The New Body - Astrit Ismaili
THE GOURD & THE FISH - Rodrigo Hernández
Bhanu Kapil & Sharon Carlisle
"Mud Female Buddha Equinox Ritual", 2014
Sharon came every morning to sift the mud/build the Buddha . . . the mud female Buddha herself erased one day abruptly. The space was thought of as a “balcony” (after Genet’s Le Balcon). The space of a life, a site of incarnation. Incarnate, fleeting.
Image courtesy the artists
ADRENARCHY - Jumana Manna
HUNTER OF WORLDS, with Nina Canell, Rochelle Feinstein, Louise Lawler, Marie Matusz
Josep Maynou, Alan Schmalz
John Smith, Niels Trannois
HUNTER OF WORLDS, with Nina Canell, Rochelle Feinstein, Louise Lawler, Marie Matusz
Josep Maynou, Alan Schmalz
John Smith, Niels Trannois
Anna Diehl - RESILIENCE
Charles Benjamin - NOT OLD NOT NEW
Marguerite Humeau and Julian Charrière - TWIN EARTH
BODYSPLITS - Nina Beier, Morgan Courtois, Jesse Darling, Cathy Josefowitz, Judith Kakon, Oliver Laric, Kris Lemsalu, Julie Monot, Pakui Hardware, Puppies Puppies, Mia Sanchez, Dorian Sari, Diamond Stingily
Tobias Spichtig - FRIDGES AND MIND AGAIN
ON FIRE – VULNERABLE FOOTAGE with Melanie Bonajo, Samira Elagoz, Juliana Huxtable, Carolyn Lazard, Leigh Ledare, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Tobias Madison, Markus & Markus, Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Christoph Schlingensief, Martine Syms, Johannes Willi, Sasha Wortzel with Morgan Bassichis
Charles Benjamin
CROCODILE TEARS
ARMEN ELOYAN
MEGAN ROONEY
Camp Solong
Game of Goose
Country SALTS: THIS MORNING, IN THE SWEET TORPOR OF THE GREAT FOREST, IS LIKE EVERY MORNING IN THE WORLD
Nicolas Party
Nicolas Party
*Lena Henke - Boobs (female fatigue series), 2015
Gina Folly
side 2
Vanessa Safavi
Rodrigo Hernández
Emanuel Röhss
Pauline Beaudemont
Claudia Comte
Petrit Halilaj & Alvaro Urbano
Kasper Sonne
Raphael Hefti
Katja Novitskova
Pedro Wirz
Sol Calero
Sol Calero
Tobias Spichtig
Pedro Wirz
Daniel Gustav Cramer
Tyra Tingleff
Tyra Tingleff
UTTER BLISS
Stefan Sulzer
UTTER BLISS
Stefan Sulzer
GLASSWORKS REVERSED
Tobias Spichtig
The Ethicas of Pirating
Adina Popescu