Contemporary Art Pool

For

Melting Point

Exhibition
30.08.24 – 12.10.24

Noemi Pfister, Anonimous Artists, 2024, oil on canvas, 306 x 195 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Virginie Sistek, Monogamie, 2024, couches, 305 x 210 x 69 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Virginie Sistek, Monogamie (detail), 2024, couches, 305 x 210 x 69 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Baker Wardlaw, the partners, 2023, cast bronze, 10 x 22 x 32 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Noemi Pfister, Great things end, small things endure, 2024, oil on canvas, wood frame, 162 x 122 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Paul Fritz & Virginie Sistek, My wife reads novels. I haven‘t got the time., 2024, 3d-animated video-loop. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Paul Fritz & Virginie Sistek, My wife reads novels. I haven‘t got the time. (video-still), 2024, 3d-animated video-loop. All images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Matthias Sohr, Treppenlift-Skulptur 5, 2024, various materials, 370 x 102 x 110 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Matthias Sohr, Treppenlift-Skulptur 6, 2024, various materials, 308 x 170 x 85 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Matthias Sohr, Treppenlift-Skulptur 6 (detail), 2024, various materials, 308 x 170 x 85 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Exhibition view, Christophe de Rohan Chabot, For, Basel. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Untitled (Pika red), 2023, sublimation print on aluminum, 50 x 50 x 16 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Untitled (Pika gray 2), 2023, sublimation print on aluminum, 50 x 50 x 16 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Untitled (aluminum piece), 2024, aluminum, 60 x 37.5 x 18 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Untitled (bunny black), 2023, sublimation print on aluminum, 60 x 36,5 x 18 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Noemi Pfister, Ragazzi di vita, 2024, oil on canvas, wood frame, 97 x 63 cm. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

Virginie Sistek, She‘s so lucky, she‘s a star but she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking if there‘s nothing missing in my life then why do these tears come at night?, 2024, fans. Photography: Gina Folly / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and For, Basel

I don‘t give a fuck. Developed in African-American resistance against an oppressive, white and propertied class, coolness was later adapted precisely by those who were thus addressed as aggressors: The European avant-garde practiced relaxed self-control in order to set itself apart from a mass society, that was driven by desires and needs to act in haste and hurry. Affected by such demotion, middle class representatives began as well to practice indifference in order to present the cooling of embarrassing passions – and thereby secure opportunities for social advancement. Today, cooling techniques manifest themselves in a wide range of milieus, including couch potatoes and aging American presidents, and for many seem to be an unavoidable strategy for coping with everyday life: As a pleasurable regulatory practice, it helps to relax from time to time, keeps cash coming in, keeps us in the green. The crises of the present can thus be met with indifference, promises that have not been kept can be soberly accepted and, now and again, egocentric complacency can be indulged. But it is precisely in the frosty distance of late capitalist relationships that a new form of coolness seems to be emerging – one that eventually reaches the melting point of individual cooling: It is forgiving, emotionally involved, vulnerable and calming at the same time. It is cute, keeps its distance with a laugh, acts in groups, and defies social absurdities and senseless concepts of life. #shitshow creates that kind of social proximity that has the potential to overturn the status quo. Even anger can be expressed with cute emojis. In this way, it seems possible to get heated and outraged together, to amuse and relieve each other while keeping a cool head at all times. Welcome!

Artists
Baker Wardlaw, Christophe de Rohan Chabot, Matthias Sohr, Noemi Pfister, Virginie Sistek, Paul Fritz

Curators
Matthias Liechti, Valerie Keller

Download
Press release (PDF)

Location

For
Teichgässlein 31
4058 Basel
Switzerland
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Website
https://for-space.ch

Published on: 18.09.24