katharina grosse messeplatz art basel interview 1234745036

German artist Katharina Grosse, known for her immersive spray-painted installations, will create a monumental painting titled "CHOIR" across the entire Messeplatz in Basel during Art Basel. The project, curated by Natalia Graboska, involves spray-painting the 53,800-square-foot pedestrian precinct in shades of magenta, marking the first time a painter has been commissioned to take over the entire square. In an interview with ARTnews, Grosse discusses her evolution from early experiments with spray guns in Marseille to key works like "Untitled" (1998) at Kunsthalle Bern and "The Bedroom" (2004), and her upcoming 2026 show at the Munch Museum in Oslo.

bint mbareh sound art palestinian resistance 1234743980

Bint Mbareh, a Palestinian sound artist and stage name assumed around 2019, creates installations and performances that use water and sound as metaphors for Palestinian experience. Growing up in Ramallah and later studying at Goldsmiths in London, she learned geographically specific Palestinian rain-summoning songs, which she twists and destabilizes using digital technology in works like *Time Flows in All Directions: Water Flows Through Me* (2020). After October 7, 2023, she expanded her practice to include a “choir” of collaborators performing collective grief, with appearances at an Artists for Aid benefit concert in London and at Tate Modern. Recent installation works such as *Bodies of Knowledge* (Royal College of Art) and *What’s Left?* (Sharjah Biennial) incorporate water tanks vibrated by sound, evoking both childhood and displacement.

LACMA opens its new building for a sneak peek: Photos from the first preview

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) held its first public event inside the new Peter Zumthor-designed David Geffen Galleries on Thursday evening, offering a sneak peek before art is installed. The preview featured a site-specific concert by composer Kamasi Washington, with multiple bands and a choir performing throughout the empty concrete galleries. The building, which has been under construction for five years, is targeted to open in April 2026, though some construction details remain unfinished and landscaping is still settling.

Berlin is the capital of contemporary performance. Here's why

Berlino è la capitale della performance contemporanea. Ecco perché

Berlino si conferma capitale della performance contemporanea, con musei e spazi non teatrali che diventano luoghi di azione e sperimentazione. L'articolo descrive quattro recenti performance: 'Glitch Choir – Vocal Variations' di Deva Schubert allo Schinkel Pavillon, dove il corpo e la voce esplorano il glitch come condizione fisica e politica; 'Roses Rising – The Movement' di Leila Hekmat al Gropius Bau, un rituale collettivo di danza e musica; e altre opere che trasformano istituzioni come l'Hamburger Bahnhof in dispositivi di produzione sensoriale. Anche il Bode Museum partecipa con 'The Healing Museum', uno spazio di meditazione interreligioso.

Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski on Representing Poland at the 61st Venice Biennale

Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski, representing Poland at the 61st Venice Biennale, plan to exhibit a project inspired by the Choir in Motion (a phonic/sign-language ensemble of hearing and Deaf people), underwater role reversals, and whale communication. Their work explores alternate forms of communication, Deaf Gain, and the retrieval of voices—both human and non-human—aligning with the Biennale's theme "In Minor Keys." The Polish pavilion is located in the Giardini.

Katharina Grosse: ‘Imagination doesn’t have a scale’

Katharina Grosse has created a monumental site-specific commission titled CHOIR (2025) for the Messeplatz at Art Basel, covering the entire square and the Messe building with her signature spray-painted veils of high color. In an interview with The Art Newspaper, Grosse discusses how she tackled the vast urban space, emphasizing the immediacy of entering the square without any transitional experience, and describes her process of painting over roofs, facades, a fountain, and even a clock, using only magenta and white to create luminous effects. The work is part of a busy summer for the artist, who also has exhibitions at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

Exhibition | Naomi Rincón Gallardo, 'Sonnet of Vermin' at Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Naomi Rincón Gallardo presents her first solo exhibition in London, 'Sonnet of Vermin,' at the Hayward Gallery. The show features her 2022 film following a group of animals from Mesoamerican myths—Bat, Snake, Scorpion, and a choir of frogs—as they navigate dystopian landscapes in Oaxaca, communicating via radio signals and calling for solidarity amid social and ecological devastation. Rincón Gallardo works across video, performance, drawing, and sculpture, weaving cuir/queer resistance, pre-colonial folklore, DIY aesthetics, music, and dance into surreal narratives that critique colonialism and exploitation.

Creating positivity out of toxicity

Artists from Good Bank Gallery in McLaren Vale are collaborating with The Wild South on a series of events called TOXIC SURF (Mid Coast) as part of South Australia's Nature Festival. The program includes workshops, exhibitions, a lantern parade, film screenings, and a choir performance, all aimed at addressing the ecological crisis caused by the harmful algal bloom Karenia Mikimotoi along the state's coastline. Community members can participate in ocean lantern-making workshops, a roving lantern performance, a community art exhibition, and an art and eco-resilience workshop, with contributions from local artists, Ngarrindjeri elders, and environmental groups.