Kunsttage Expedition by Stephanie Seidel

We asked leading figures from the art world which venues they plan to visit during Kunsttage Basel. This third tour recommendation in our series comes from Stephanie Seidel, head of contemporary art at Kunstmuseum Basel.

I start in Kleinbasel at For. Tucked away in a courtyard, the artist-run space presents the group show Valuables, which considers how fictions take shape within reality. From there, it is only a short walk to Nicolas Krupp to see Kaspar Müller. Employing with familiar objects and everyday materials, his work extends the logic of the readymade into the vast expansions of consumer culture. At Kunsthalle Basel Gili Tal’s “Light and Airy” equally takes readymades as a point of departure for her presentation. A stop by here before I head by tram to Münchenstein for Another Birth, the diploma exhibition of the Institute Art Gender Nature at HGK Basel presented at the Kunsthaus Baselland, where new talents release their works into the world. Back in the city center, I take a stroll down to the Rhine in St Alban to the Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart with Cao Fei’s Testimonies to the Near Future. Even after spending quite a bit of time with the exhibition and its many, many hours of video – and being one of its curators – re-watching Cao Fei’s videos continues to yield new discoveries – details that previously went unnoticed or unexpected connections. Finally I walk a few steps down towards the river to end my tour with a cool drink at the buvette Piccolo Cibo in St. Alban while my feet cool off in the water.