Kunsthalle Basel

Kunsthalle Basel is dedicated to exhibiting, discussing, and reflecting on the art of the present. And it always has been, since its founding in 1872. It was one of the first institutions in Switzerland to feature international and Swiss contemporary art, and today it is still among the country’s most active. It is renowned for its audacious and varied programs as well as for its engagement with artists, particularly those who are not yet widely known. It welcomes curious visitors of all ages and organizes up to 10 thought- provoking exhibitions per year, many of which include newly produced works. It also hosts a panoply of events — artist’s talks, performances, film screenings, and more — making it a vibrant site to experience contemporary art and take part in the discussions that surround it.

This museum greets you in the following languages: D/E
Opening 1872

Current exhibitions

Judith Kakon Back wall project «¤»

18.09.2020 - 15.08.2021

Judith Kakon (* 1988, Basel) takes the symbol ¤ as the title for her artwork, sited on Kunsthalle Basel’s back wall. It is a sign that denotes an unspecified currency, first encoded for computers in 1972. The artist places it, along with various terms of the global realty trade (PRIME, TRUST, ESTATE, etc.), rendered in hand-wrought iron and set against a wall painted in the grey specific to computer applications.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E

Raphael Hefti: «Salutary Failures»

09.10.2020 - 03.01.2021

In what will be his largest show to date, the Swiss artist Raphael Hefti (*1978) known for his experimental methods and materials will create a new, site-specific body of works in which altered experiences are central.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D/E

Regionale 21: «Situation 1 und andere»

28.11.2020 - 03.01.2021

An annual group exhibition conceived in the context of the Regionale, a cross-border cooperation of 18 institutions in France, Germany, and Switzerland, with a focus on contemporary production by artists local to the three-country region around Basel.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E

Next exhibition(s)

Lydia Ourahmane

15.01.2021 - 05.04.2021

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A ransom, an illicit border crossing, an exchange of nationality: Transactions of different sorts are often the conceptual starting point for Lydia Ourahmane’s (* 1992) art. Video, sound, performance, sculpture, and installation, exploring the way histories of displacement and colonial oppression are inscribed upon bodies. For her first exhibition in Switzerland, the Algerian-born artist presents a newly commissioned work.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D/E

Joachim Bandau «Die Nichtschönen, Works 1967–1974»

29.01.2021 - 18.04.2021

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At once technoid and bodily, minimal and monstrous, often with spouts or hoses that resemble weirdly organic orifices and tentacles, the early sculptural works by Joachim Bandau (* 1936) remain as strange and singular today as when he first made them. An overview of the artist’s still relatively little-known sculptures and drawings from the period 1967 – 1974 will be on view.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D/E

Matthew Angelo Harrison

23.04.2021 - 22.08.2021

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For his first solo exhibition at a European institution, Detroit-born sculptor Matthew Angelo Harrison (* 1989) creates a monumental installation of 3-D machine technologies, African artifacts, and workers’ labor union paraphernalia to merge the cruel history of colonialism with the formalist legacy of Minimalism.



The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D/E

INFORMATION (Today)

28.05.2021 - 15.08.2021

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An international group exhibition introducing a diverse range of contemporary artistic approaches that unravel the ways in which the circulation and processing of data and information define our daily lives today.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D/E

Pedro Wirz

27.08.2021 - 14.11.2021

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For his largest institutional exhibition to date, Pedro Wirz (* 1981) creates an immersive installation, filled with a germinating ecosystem and sculptures drawn equally from organic matter and consumer culture. Together, they translate the Brazilian Swiss artist’s interest in cultural history, science, craft, and folklore into a result as fantastical as it is a sobering commentary on our current environmental crisis.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D/E

Michaela Eichwald

01.10.2021 - 02.01.2022

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In ihrer ersten institutionellen Einzelausstellung in der Schweiz präsentiert die deutsche Künstlerin Michaela Eichwald (* 1967) neue Gemälde, auf deren üppig beschichteten Oberflächen aus unkonventionellem Trägermaterial wie Lederimitaten oder Autositzbezügen sich eine künstlerische Praxis zwischen Abstraktion und Figuration, Sprache und Gestik ausbreitet – im Versuch, die klassischste Gattung der Kunstgeschichte, die Malerei, neu zu denken.

The exhibition is documented in the following languages: D/E
Guided tours are offered in the following languages: D/E