Chloe Wise's first major institutional exhibition in Switzerland, 'Extrasensory' at the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger, is a multichannel video and immersive installation that deliberately defies easy definition. Curated by Samuel Leuenberger, the show draws from science fiction, consumer culture, organized religion, and art history to explore the supernatural and the unexplainable. Wise, known primarily for her paintings of friends in scenes of performative leisure, has eschewed painting entirely for this exhibition, creating a gift-shop-like entry point and featuring figures such as actor Bobbi Menuez, writer Joey Frank, and musician Moses Sumney as angelic characters.
The exhibition matters because it marks a significant departure for Wise, who has long wanted to create immersive worlds but felt constrained by the visibility of her painting practice. By blending disparate cultural signifiers—from prayer beads to tarot decks to alien iconography—Wise challenges viewers to consider how people access profound questions about divinity, consciousness, and non-human intelligence through consumer items and familiar tropes. The show also underscores a broader trend of artists moving beyond traditional media to create experiential environments that resist easy categorization, pushing the boundaries of how contemporary art engages with belief and perception.