Chloe Wise's 'Extrasensory' Blends UFOs, Religion, and Pop Culture in Basel

Chloe Wise's first institutional exhibition in Switzerland, 'Extrasensory,' opened at the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger (KBH.G) and runs through September 6. The show transforms the entrance into a gift shop-slash-botánica, featuring crucifixes, UFO keychains, tarot decks, and prayer candles depicting characters from her 34-minute three-channel film 'PsyFi.' The film, produced by Gummy Films, stars Michael Buscemi, JT of City Girls, Martine Gutierrez, Bobbi Menuez, Moses Sumney, Martine Syms, Sophia Lamar, Lucas Bravo, Miles Greenberg, and Delaney Rowe. Wise, represented by Almine Rech, explores what she calls 'the phenomenon'—UFOs, angel contact, telepathy, ghosts, and consciousness—through an immersive installation, a book, and the film. She states her interest is aesthetic, not ontological, focusing on how such phenomena appear and are experienced. The film cycles through visual archetypes of divinity and pop culture, including real UFO footage released by the U.S. government. Wise, known for her hyperrealistic bread sculptures and portraits of New York personalities, also painted a vinyl cover for Olivia Rodrigo and has collaborated with comedian Eric Wareheim. The exhibition includes a green room described as 'Lynchian,' and a catalogue with a film still of Wise in alien prosthetics.