"Ich betrachte Scheitern nicht als Endpunkt"
Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama, ranked number one on Art Review's 2025 Power100 list, has created a major commissioned installation for the Art Basel Award on Münsterplatz in Basel. The work, titled after Arundhati Roy's novel "The God of Small Things," consists of a labyrinth of woven cubes and rooms made from traditional handwoven textiles from northern Ghana and industrial materials salvaged from abandoned factories, including rubber waste from a former tire plant. Mahama's practice involves excavating toxic materials from these sites, weaving them into his art, and commissioning new textiles from weavers in northern Ghana.
This installation matters because it embodies Mahama's critical stance toward the art establishment even as he receives its highest honors. By repurposing materials tied to Ghana's post-independence industrialization and its subsequent failures, he questions whether art can offer redemption for historical and ecological wounds. The work also highlights the tension between global art market success and grassroots, politically engaged practice, as Mahama uses his platform to address colonial legacies, labor, and environmental degradation.