French Swiss artist Julian Charrière presents 'Midnight Zone' at Museum Tinguely in Basel, an exhibition that plunges viewers into the oceanic abyss through four new commissions and earlier works. The show features video installations, sculptural works, and acoustic pieces that explore deep-sea ecologies, including a film set in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone targeted for deep-sea mining, and a rotating Fresnel lens installation that translates low-frequency noise pollution into vibration. Charrière’s multidisciplinary approach draws on fieldwork in extreme geographies like the Arctic and deep ocean.
The exhibition matters because it confronts urgent environmental issues—deep-sea mining, climate change, and ecological degradation—through an artistic lens that merges sensory experience with political critique. By pairing his work with Jean Tinguely’s kinetic sculptures, Charrière highlights shared concerns about degrading systems and planetary interconnectedness. The show reframes the deep sea not just as a resource to be exploited but as a phantasmagorical space demanding wonder and caution, making it a timely contribution to conversations about technology, extraction, and ecological responsibility.