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

Kaari Upson: Go Back the Way You Came

30.08.2019 - 10.11.2019

For her first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, Kaari Upson (*1972) presents a new body of wood and latex sculptures that continue her ongoing exploration of both the figure of the mother and the uncanny double.

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

Next exhibition(s)

Alex Baczynski-Jenkins: Such Feeling

27.09.2019 - 13.10.2019

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The Polish-British artist and choreographer Alex Baczynski-Jenkins (*1987) deploys micro-gestures, dance, and minimal sets to trace desire, alienation, and collectivity. His practice is specifically concerned with the mediation and politics of queer desire, staging affect and intimacy through live performance.

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

Joanna Piotrowska: Stable Vices

25.10.2019 - 05.01.2020

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The black-and-white photographs and films by Joanna Piotrowska (*1985) capture the everyday drama of human relations. The Polish artist creates inexplicably strange and touching images, whose recording of gestures of care, self-protection, or control are as deftly composed as they are psychologically charged.

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

Regionale 20

23.11.2019 - 19.01.2020

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For the 20th edition of Regionale, Kunsthalle Basel celebrates the origins of the tri-regional, multi-institutional collaboration by inviting former Kunsthalle Basel director Peter Pakesch, one of the initiators of Regionale, to curate the annual exhibition of work by artists from the region.


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

Camille Blatrix

17.01.2020 - 15.03.2020

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The French sculptor Camille Blatrix (*1984) uses traditional techniques to exquisitely hand craft strange and elegant objects that look as if they were machines from some unknown future, all while refusing to reveal their function.

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

Group exhibition curated by Nick Mauss

07.02.2020 - 26.04.2020

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This group show imagined by artist Nick Mauss (*1980) brings together “high” and “low,” “fine” and “applied” art forms—juxtaposing contemporary paintings with textile works, experimental 1970s films with works of poetry—in a specially conceived scenography.

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

Deana Lawson

27.03.2020 - 24.05.2020

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Creating meticulously staged yet profoundly intimate images of the sartorial styles, quotidian habits, and domestic interiors of the African diaspora in her native US or in Brazil and beyond, Deana Lawson’s (*1979) photographs are unforgettable portraits of contemporary Black life.

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

Information (Today)

29.05.2020 - 16.08.2020

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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

Matthew Angelo Harrison

12.06.2020 - 30.08.2020

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Formerly a worker at the Ford Motor factory, the Detroit-born sculptor Matthew Angelo Harrison (*1989) uses 3-D machine technologies and African artifacts to make artworks in which the cruel history of colonialism meets with the formalist legacy of Minimalism.

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

Annual group exhibition Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt

30.08.2020 - 13.09.2020

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This annual exhibition highlights artworks by recipients of the 2020 Basel-Stadt Art Credit grant (Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt Werkbeiträge).

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

Michaela Eichwald

11.09.2020 - 15.11.2020

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In her first Swiss institutional solo, the German artist Michaela Eichwald (*1967) presents all new paintings whose thickly-layered surfaces, made out of such unconventional supports as imitation leather or car seat upholstery, enfold a practice between abstraction and figuration, language and gesture in order to reimagine art history’s most classical medium.

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

Raphael Hefti

02.10.2020 - 03.01.2021

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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

Regionale 21

28.11.2020 - 03.01.2021

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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