For the Art Public program of Art 41 Basel, the international art show for Modern and contemporary art in Basel / Switzerland, the Italian artist Micol Assaël presented her installation Mindfall (2004), a container filled with motors that produce unpleasant smells and noise.
As every year, the Messeplatz in front of the main halls hosting Art Basel again served as the arena for the fair’s Art Public program. Selected by the Art Basel Committee and curated by Martin Schwander, this year’s Art Public sector featured 14 works by internationally renowned artists Ai Weiwei, Dora Garciá, Eric Hattan, Hanspeter Hofmann, Thomas Houseago, Alicja Kwade, Ernesto Neto, Bettina Pousttchi, Ugo Rondinone, Alberto Tadiello, Oscar Tuazon, Lawrence Weiner, Heimo Zobernig, and Micol Assaël.
Micol Assaël developed Mindfall for the Manifesta 5 in San Sebastian. In altered form the installation was also shown in 2008 at the gallery Johann König in Berlin. Central elements in Micol Assaël’s artistic work are scientific and physical phenomena and their interaction with the human body. In cooperation with the Moscow Physics Research Institute, Micol Assaël developed a work that transformed the exhibition space at Kunsthalle Basel into an electromagnetic field (Chizhevsky Lessons, 2007) that gave visitors a noticable electirc charge. Entering the installation Mindfall, the visitors is confronted with an arrangement of electrical motors, running on unusual, emmitting very unpleasant odors and noises. After a short while, staying in the room becomes more and more insufferable.
Micol Assaël was born in rome in 1979. She studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of La Sapienza University in Rome. She took part in several biennials, such as the Venice Biennale, the Moscow Biennale, and the Berlin Biennial.
Micol Assaël: Mindfall (2007) / Johann König, Berlin; Zero…, Milano at Art 41 Basel, Art Pubic sector. June 14, 2010.
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