Saâdane Afif's Asynchronous Abstraction at Kunsthaus Basel
Saâdane Afif's exhibition at Kunsthaus Basel, running until March 7, delves into abstraction through varied temporal experiences. At Palais de Tokyo, he showcased songs commissioned from Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Tom Morton, and Mick Peter, displayed in shimmering letters. Visitors could engage with musical interpretations via headphones on found-object furniture. Sixty spotlights cast light circles, extinguishing after one hour before cycling back on. Afif's artistic approach encompasses diverse perceptions of time and includes collaborations with labels like Robert Meijer's semischigure for CD releases. He often views each exhibition space as a unique sentence structure, frequently receiving commissioned pieces just prior to openings. Additionally, he produced wind vibrations at Frac Champagne-Ardenne and featured eleven guitars playing random rock power chords at Lyon Biennale.
Key facts
- Exhibition at Kunsthaus Basel runs January 21 to March 7, 2006.
- Afif commissioned songs from Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Tom Morton, and Mick Peter.
- Songs were displayed in iridescent rainbow letters on walls.
- Visitors listened to musical interpretations via headphones while on found-object furniture.
- Sixty spotlights projected light circles: one per minute, all off after an hour, then cycle repeats.
- Label semischigure by Robert Meijer plans to produce CDs of the songs.
- At Frac Champagne-Ardenne, Afif removed windows and built a plastic-wrapped wooden structure for wind effect.
- Stéphane Calais created 'Forêt' with the word 'Underground' in tree-trunk typography.
- One Million BPM at Albi featured three rotating two-way mirrors and Power Chords sound piece.
- At Lyon Biennale, eleven guitars randomly played rock power chords via computer.
- Power Chords was also a song commissioned from Mick Peter.
- Afif was born in 1970 and lives in Berlin.
Entities
Artists
- Saâdane Afif
- Lili Reynaud-Dewar
- Tom Morton
- Mick Peter
- Stéphane Calais
- André Cadere
- Robert Meijer
Institutions
- Kunsthaus Basel
- Palais de Tokyo
- Frac Champagne-Ardenne
- Moulins albigeois
- Lyon Biennale
- Galerie Michel Rein
- Le Creux de l'Enfer
- Le Collège/Frac Champagne-Ardenne
- Villa Arson
- Museum Folkwang
- Art/34/Basel/Art Statements
Locations
- Basel
- Switzerland
- Paris
- France
- Reims
- Thiers
- Nice
- Essen
- Germany
- Albi
- Lyon
- Berlin
Sources
- artpress —