Lucy Skaer and Danh Vo at Kunsthalle Basel

Until June 14, Kunsthalle Basel presented the first major institutional exhibition outside of Great Britain by Lucy Skaer (born 1975 in Cambridge). On the ground floor of the Kunsthalle Basel, Lucy Skaer is presenting three installations created specially for the exhibition as well as existing works, including her 16 mm film Eleonora (The Joker), 2006 and a recent installation, The Siege, (commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery in London in 2008). Lucy Skaer makes sculptures, films and drawings mainly based on photographs sourced from newspapers and books as well as pictures taken off the Internet, and assembles them in installations.

Until August 23, 2009, Kunsthalle Basel presents Where the Lions Are, the first major institutional exhibition by Danh Vo. Danh Vo (born in 1975 in Saigon, Vietnam) is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen and the Städelschule, Frankfurt. He currently lives and works in Berlin. In 2008 he participated, among other exhibitions, in Manifesta 7, Rovereto. This year, he has been nominated for the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst.

Danh Vo’s ongoing interest in the reasons for France’s involvement in Southeast Asia developed into a new body of work, which is presented at Kunsthalle Basel. The artist draws on three different archives that link together important moments in the history of Vietnam: the role of the missionaries sent to Southeast Asia by the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris in the 19th century, the official ending of the Vietnam war negotiated in Paris, and elements of Vo’s biography.

Lucy Skaer – A Boat Used as a Vessel and Danh Vo: Where the Lions Are / Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland. Art Basel Event, June 10, 2009.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.

Posted in: art, Basel, no comment, VernissageTV